Chichester bus station: ‘We should be making public transport more attractive’ – reader’s letter

Each time I read something about Chichester District Council’s plans for demolishing our bus station and setting up facilities elsewhere, I become more and more certain that those making the decisions never use the local buses, and are totally removed from reality.

The latest statements on the council’s website, in the FAQs about the bus station, tell us that ‘one of the main aims of this regeneration project is to enhance the use and accessibility of public transport’.

To achieve this the council proposes moving the bus stops, which it concedes will still be needed for ‘bus drop-off and collections’, away from the bus station.

Has it not occurred to them that the bus station was placed next to the railway station for a reason?

How will having no bus station but just some drop-off points along Avenue de Chartres, enhance our experience when waiting for a bus?

Will more people use the buses?

My experience of bus travel would be much enhanced by a renovated bus station, with toilets, waiting room, staff available for queries and the like, as they have in Winchester.

We should be making travel by public transport much more attractive, to encourage people away from individual private cars, if we are to make any progress with cutting our carbon emissions.

For more, read Chichester’s bus station should remain