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 The Milton Keynes Coachway (also Milton Keynes coach station) is a Coachway interchange close to junction 14 of the M1 motorway on the eastern edge of Milton Keynes, north Buckinghamshire, England. It supports National Express intercity coach ...

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 to oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, then a planned new town midway between London and Birmingham. At designation ...

in late 1989). Alan Storkey, 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 an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...

in 2006. The

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine 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, were 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

(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 commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

. *

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

(near M1 Junction 34) serves

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. *

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. ...

(at the end of the M275) serves

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. *The Ferrytoll park and ride in south

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

is an important intermediate stop for many coach services between

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Fife and the rest of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. * 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 the third longest 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 ele ...

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