Nottingham Becomes a Bus Crewe
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IN the long-distance bus pattern of the country, Nottingham was reaching the same position as Crewe or Derby in that of the railways, aidMr. R. M. Finch, Nottingham city engineer, giving evidence at the inquiry into the city's development plan, last week. Referring to the Broad Marsh bus station, Mr. Finch said it was unusual to find, in a town with over 100,000 inhabitants, a site suitable for use as a bus station for all out-of-town services. " know of no other site in this country like it," he said during the hearing. The station used 1.47 acres to handle 50 vehicles an hour. The average departure rate was 388 a day, and it was growing rapidly. It would he possible to use 2,79 acres of land at Broad Marsh without acquiring more property, and 100 buses an hour could then be handled. By taking the objectors' premises, the area would be increased to 3.38 acres, but the traffic handled could be doubled because the added area would
he all that was needed for additional bus platforms.
Huntingdon Street bus station handled 750 buses a day, and Mount Street 830. The proposed bus station would deal with 2,000 buses a day. When Broad Marsh was expanded it was expected that Mount Street and Huntingdon Street would be devoted to local services. Mr. Finch said that a lift would take bus passengers from Broad Marsh up to the level of High Pavement. They could then walk into the city centre without adding to the congestion in Listergate. Such lifts existed in Lisbon and Stockholm. He did not agree that the present land held by the corporation in Broad Marsh, with a two-tier bus station, would be able to handle all the bus traffic. "It probably would be enough forrn the next 10 years, but not for the next 20 years," he said. Bus operators wanted a large central bus station where they could change the passengers on • to other routes all in the one area.