Firm slams charges for Newport bus station

10:58am Saturday 23rd March 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By David Deans - Politics reporter

A BUS firm has hit out at proposed charges for a new city bus station that is says are 48 per cent greater than ones at the one it will help to replace.

Newport council is intending to charge 75p for local bus services and £2.13 for coachs for each departure from its new Market Square bus terminus.

The council currently charges 50p for local buses and £1.42 for coaches at the city's existing bus station The new fees are expected to collect between £100,000 and £110,000 a year, and will fund maintenance and operation of the new terminus facility including toilets and the passenger info system.

Newport council says these fees are in line with similarly newly built facilities, and says Swansea city council charges £1.04 for buses and £3.63 for coaches.

But a spokesman for Stagecoach in South Wales said: "We have to question the reasonableness of this proposed change."

The spokesman for the firm said that, prior to the works at Upper Dock Street, no departure charges were levied at the location.

"It should be noted that current bus station departure charges are 50.6 pence per departure, therefore the authority is proposing to levy a charge which is 48 per cent greater than that charged at the bus station," he said.

A spokeswoman said: "It is normal practice to levy a departure charge on bus operators, the proceeds of which are used to maintain facilities. The council did not previously make charges at this site as no passenger facilities were provided.

"It will help to ensure that the facilities are modern, clean and cater for customers needs and meets their expectations when visiting the city."

The new 'North Terminal' is intended to supplement the new bus station in the Frairs Walk redevelopment plans, which will be smaller than the current station.

It is intended that fees at that station will be brought into line with the Market Square terminus.

The plans are being considered by the Newport cabinet member for infrastructure Councillor Ken Critchley.

Comments(14)

Mervyn James says...
11:48am Sat 23 Mar 13

Just what we need, another deterrence for people coming to town.

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Radio Wales says...
12:14pm Sat 23 Mar 13

The council (amongst others) need to investigate the meaning of the word "Inflation" and what causes it.
In a climate where income is either pegged at 1 to 2% or non-existent, a 50% increase for anything is outrageous.
It reflects the kind of "we're the council - we can do what we want" attitude that people have come to despise.
Elected representatives are not dictators regardless of how much they'd like to be and should be grateful that there is nobody available that could run a whelk stall because if there were - they'd be out of a job!

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b3talover says...
12:22pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Yes, it's cheaper than Swansea, but Swansea has actual shops... and a shopping centre... and a decent rugby region... and a decent football team... and a marina... and a decent university...

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merlin the silure says...
2:26pm Sat 23 Mar 13

yet another own goal from our city fathers-what a bunch of..................
.........

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VoiceOfDaPort says...
6:12pm Sat 23 Mar 13

I've never known anyone assassinate a city centre before, but that appears to be what someone has paid the current bunch of councillors to do.

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Winston0909 says...
7:41pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Went in newport town centre today for the first time since moving away 2 and half years ago...... Ghost town, cant believe the council have allowed it to get that bad, pity really, its a far cry from the town i grew up in and loved

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Magor says...
8:15pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Price the cars out,now the buses next they will be charging trains to stop at Newport station.No wonder the place is a ghost town.

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pwharley says...
8:54pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Perhaps Stagecoach should move to the stops on Kingsway (already used by Megabus) and/or those in Queensway?

The Council would soon see sense if their new bus terminus lay empty after completion!

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Bobevans says...
11:10pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Do you seriously expect any better from the Newport Councillors & Newport Unlimited. They are doing what they are best at making a mess of things. It was never sensible to have two bus stations. It is inconvenient and both are in the wrong locations. These fools though decided this was a brilliant idea and went ahead with it in spite of opposition from the bus companies and passengers and other organisations
Much of the extra cost is from having two spate bus stations. It doubles the costs and some is so Newport council can carry on spending rather than look at means of reducing costs
We are now going to be stuck with two white elephant bus station both nowhere near the rail station and both with the taxi ranks nowhere near them.
We could have had a proper integrated transport hub serving rail, bus, coaches & taxis and with proper dropping off facilities for cars instead we have the usual Newport mess. A number of routes that now go onto Newport retail park will probably decide to miss out the bus station and just use one of the stops in the area as they carry on to the Retail Park

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Stan Edwards says...
12:31am Sun 24 Mar 13

Newport Unlaminated!

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russ angel says...
3:00pm Sun 24 Mar 13

It's like a sitcom,or an end of the pier farce.I must say that I am entertained by the incompetence of these so called "decision makers" at Newport Council.The bus service is terrible here anyway,it's confusing,erratic and unreliable.

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stjulians says...
11:08pm Sun 24 Mar 13

Unfortunately Newport Council can't do anything right at the moment. For many many many years I have championed Newport, and to a point I still try to, but it does seem that over time it is becoming more and more difficult. I don't think that Newport Council charging more is a bad thing, unfortunately if they don't have money coming in then they need to make money from somewhere. The fact that they charge me £1 to park for 3 hours, not a problem! Occasionally I do actually need to go *somewhere* to do *something* and to pay £1 isn't an issue. I see that one of the problems here is that, I would say, Newport is probably one of the first City Centres to realise that City Centre shopping is no more... I would happily bet that in 10 years (or maybe even not as long as that) the only City Centres that will be thriving will be Capital Cities and those around a particular tourist destination (eg London). I used to work in the City Centre, I no longer do; I used to shop in the City Centre, I now shop online whether it be computer or Smartphone; I used to enjoy walking around a City Centre and I still do, although now it's a Capital city, eg Cardiff; I do shop at the new Tesco but that's because I like to pick my own products, but I still don't wander to the newly revamped shops, the general population that keep a City Centre 'going' are slowly dwindling. My generation (I'm in my 30's) are connected to the Internet in more ways that one, I have no reason to visit banks, I have little reason to visit shops, if I want to watch a movie I can easily rent one through the vast amount of offerings, if I want to travel I usually travel using my car or taxi; the list goes on. I strongly believe that numerous City Centres around the UK are now doomed to fail, Capital City Centres will survive, but for the others they need to dynamically rethink what they offer because before long, and as generations continue to grow with increased technology, those more insignificant City Centres will have to rethink they're offerings

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Mongino says...
6:02am Mon 25 Mar 13

But a spokesman for Stagecoach in South Wales said: "We have to question the reasonableness of this proposed change."

I'd like to question the reasonableness of Stagecoach charging nearly seven quid for a return from Cwmbran to Pontypool!!!

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paddyparry says...
10:47am Mon 25 Mar 13

I was in Swansea on Saturday and couldn't believe the change in the bus station. Gone was the scruffy, smelly environment of old and now it is clean, closed off to the elements, more hospitable and with undercover access direct to the car park and shopping centre. If Newport's was like that then I don't think there would be many complaints.

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