Derby Bus Station is getting a major upgrade to improve passenger safety as part of efforts to “transform” travel across the region.
Nearly £300m of funding for transport improvements was approved by the East Midlands Combined Authority (EMCCA) Board at a meeting on Monday (June 8) to benefit Derby and Nottingham and the wider counties.
Papers say £4m is specifically being spent on Derby Bus Station on the Morledge, which will include fixing “unreliable” automatic doors and “unsafe” seating.
Money will also be spent on electric buses, upgraded bus stations and shelters, safer walking and cycling routes, and improved real-time travel information.
EMCCA says the funding “will transform travel across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire”.
In an announcement, EMCCA said part of the cash would be spent on improvements to Derby Bus Station “to deliver a safer and more modern passenger experience”.
The bus station is one of the city centre’s busiest spots, with reports saying more than one million passengers use it each year.
Details about the upgrade are printed in EMCCA papers state: “Derby Bus Station, a key regional interchange with 29 bays and 1.5 million annual passengers, requires further upgrades beyond recent TCF (Transforming Cities Fund) improvements.
“The scheme will fix unreliable automatic doors, unsafe seating and drainage/apron defects, while ensuring full DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and building regulation compliance to maintain a safe, functional and high quality passenger environment.”
Millions of pounds worth of funding will also upgrade 120 bus stops across the city with new shelters, improving stops, and installing real-time information displays.
Design work for new walking and cycling routes across the city near the A38 as well as Station Road, in Mickleover, is also in the pipeline.
EMCCA Mayor Claire Ward said: “By improving key bus routes, upgrading bus stops and stations, and enhancing active travel networks, we’re helping communities to be better connected to jobs, training opportunities, and each other.
“Transport is a key part of everyone’s daily lives, and for too long, our communities and businesses have had to contend with a transport network that was holding them back.
“By working with our partners across the region, we are building a network that works well as one system and supports the East Midlands to thrive.”
A number of improvements to and surrounding the station were made two years ago, with work being carried out by Derby City Council. These included new street lighting, improved pavements and pathways.
Last year, Liberal Democrat councillor Lucy Care called for public transport improvements in Derby and claimed getting a bus from Derby city centre could sometimes be difficult.
The long-serving councillor said: “There is no obvious information route for people who want to catch a bus, say to Allestree, to be able to know where they go.
“There isn’t information at the bus station unless you go and talk to somebody in the kiosk because there isn’t that information being presented on a departure board.
“People on the streets also need to know which buses go from the bus station.”
