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 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 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 Oxford ...

in 2006. The

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

regional assembly gave support to the

High Wycombe Coachway The High Wycombe Coachway is a coachway interchange close to junction 4 of the M40 motorway to the west of High Wycombe opened on 16 January 2016. Prior to its establishment, some 150 coaches on the Oxford to London coach route passed High Wycom ...

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 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 plan N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

is 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 system ...

. *

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 num ...

(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 (at the end of the M275) serves

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

. *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 ...

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 th ...

. *

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