A coachway interchange (also transitway station, busway station) is a stopping place for express coach services near the trunk road/motorway road network. It relies on available local transport modes to complete individual journeys. Coachway interchanges help to achieve low overall journey times by avoiding operation through congested urban centres.

History

United Kingdom

The Milton Keynes Coachway was the first to be called a coachway and has been in operation since 1989.The coachway first appears on the '1990 Official City Map of Milton Keynes' (pub.

Milton Keynes Development Corporation Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) was a development corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, a new town midway between London and Birmingham. Establishment MKDC established o ...

in late 1989).

Alan Storkey Alan Storkey (born 2 October 1943, in London) is an economist, sociologist and artist. He is known for his writing and lectures and for his work on transport and the arms industry, arms trade. He grew up in Wembley, Nottingham and Norwich, the so ...

, a transport economist, proposed a motorway based coach system based on Coachway interchanges to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee in May 2006 and was promoted by

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books. Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...

in 2006. The

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

regional assembly gave support to the High Wycombe Coachway in December 2009. In January 2010, the South East England regional transport board criticised the plans published by the development authority for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

for not providing plans of a credible long term coach network saying 'The ODA has been working on an extensive network of coach services... utthe lack of reference to this work n the planis both intriguing and at the same time concerning.'

Coachway stations in service

United Kingdom

* Milton Keynes Coachway (near M1 Junction 14), in operation since 1989, is the UK's second busiest coach station. Its parking facility doubles as the local

Park and Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

. *

Meadowhall Interchange Meadowhall Interchange is a transport interchange located in north-east Sheffield, consisting of a combined heavy rail station, tram stop and bus and coach station. The second-busiest heavy rail station in the city in terms of passenger numb ...

(near M1 Junction 34) serves

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. *

The Hard Interchange Buses in Portsmouth are a form of public transport in the city of Portsmouth, England. Motor bus services in Portsmouth began in 1919, and were expanded in the 1930s following the closure of the Portsmouth Corporation Transport tram network. Tr ...

(at the end of the M275) serves

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. *The Ferrytoll park and ride in south

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

is an important intermediate stop for many coach services between

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Fife and the rest of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. * High Wycombe Coachway opened near Junction 4 of the M40 in January 2016. Other coachway interchanges are less formal. The Reading Coachway on the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

is more like a bus stop in a supermarket car park.

References

{{reflist, 2 Coach transport in the United Kingdom Road infrastructure in the United Kingdom

History

United Kingdom

Coachway stations in service

United Kingdom

See also

References