2010 - Topic 1: Out with the old

As from Sunday 24 October 2010, Stourbridge no longer has a bus station. It has now closed so that a new "Interchange" can be built on the site, which, if everything goes to plan, will open early 2012. In the meantime passengers will have a short walk to catch their bus services with temporary stops located in Birmingham Street (Stands A-F) and Parkfield Road (Stands G & H). A guide to the temporary bus station(s) can be found by clicking here.

Stourbridge Bus Station will have had three different layouts since it was first opened.

The Birth of the Bus Station

The original bus station

The first incarnation was opened to the public in 193? by Midland Red, the main provider of bus services in Stourbridge (until the routes were taken over by the newly formed West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive - WMPTE).


The layout consisted of three different termini:






Vauxhall Road Bus Terminus

The Vauxhall Road Terminus

This was on the East side of the Stourbridge Town Railways Station, and was the terminus for services for Pedmore, Cradley Heath and Service 130 to Birmingham. This was mainly used by the 130 service as the double decker's used on the service could not get to the main pick up area due to the freight railway bridge running across Foster Street to the goods yard which was situated where the Mill Race Lane Industrial Estate is today.

Stourbridge Town Station

The Town Station Terminus

This was on the forecourt of the old Stourbridge Town Station and was used for mainly the local estate services in Stourbridge, such as S56, S53 and S50. The Railway Station building was a grand building and was nearly one hundred years old before it was demolished in 1979.









Stourbridge Bus Garage
This was the third termini in Stourbridge and whilst it was used to store the fleet of Midland Red whilst not in service, the front of the depot was also used as an undercover terminus, mainly for longer distance services to locations such as Wolverhampton, Dudley, Kidderminster, Bridgnorth and Worcester.

   

The WMPTE took over the running of the Stations and Garage in 1973, when it took over the running of Midland Red services in Stourbridge.

The Second Installment

In 1979, the three different termini in Stourbridge were merged into one.

The 30 year old station has now closed

This meant that all services from Stourbridge would depart from one location, making it easier for passengers to catch different services to reach their destination. This also meant that the railway station would have to be demolished to make way for the bus station, and also the shortest branch railway line in the UK, was shortened even further to where it is today.

The new bus station would consist of five rows of stands, which would serve all bus services terminating, departing or passing through Stourbridge, and all buses would be concentrated in one place making it a more pleasant journey for passengers.

The once grand railway station was cleared to make way for these stands and was replaced with a metal cabin, which served as the ticket office until the 1990's. The bus station cafe survived and remained in its original place, but finally closed in 2010.

Parkfield Road and Vauxhall Road was transformed into a temporary bus station to allow the building of the new terminus to be built, and in 1980 the new bus station was opened for passenger service.

In With The New

After 30 years, the bus station is once again being rebuilt and it has taken about five years for this incarnation to get to where it is now.

In October 2010, bus services in Stourbridge were going backwards as two main termini have been created whilst the new bus station, which will now be known as "Stourbridge Interchange", will be built. Buses will also be coming into the bus station via a different way and hopefully passengers will no longer have to get wet on rainy days as the concourse will have "covered walkways" around the station.

 

The development will feature a modern and spacious station building and concourse with toilets, a retail unit and electronic passenger information boards telling passengers when their bus is due. CCTV, help points and an internal public address system will also be installed throughout.

     

There will be eight, spacious bus stands allowing easy passenger circulation and featuring doors that automatically open when the bus arrives. An additional bus stop will be installed on Vauxhall Road to allow smooth interchange between bus and rail.

The Webmaster proposes to keep a photographic record of how the new bus station is being created by posting pictures as the site becomes redeveloped from October 2010 to the opening of the "Stourbridge Interchange", these pictures can be seen by clicking here.