Oakham Bus Station

The title Bus Station might be a bit on the ambitious for the new structure built in Oakham, it is more on the scale of a Bus interchange, however it is the title it has been given. It was opened on 4th May 2014 by 102 year old Tommy Suthern with the omnipresent leader of Rutland County Council, Councillor Roger Bilton  Begy OBE, who never misses a chance to get his face in the papers.The total bill for a project was somewhere in the region of £700,000 according to the Rutland Times Newspaper.

(Above) Artist Drawing - (Below) The New Bus Station

 

The Bus Station has a nice indoor waiting area, with Wi-Fi internet connection if you don't mind giving your Facebook ID to the council, real-time bus information screens, a rather nice toilet facilities that including disabled and baby changing and a unbranded coffee machine. Outside there is a cycle storage, an outdoor canopy for shelter, small bus information screen, improved lighting and outdoor seating which was a later addition together with some litter bins. All it needs now is some nice art work on the wall rather than the dull orange brick and numbered bus stops so you know where a bus might happen to be stopping.

Although rather nice the cost did seem a little high despite Councillor Roger Begy saying "careful management and attention to detail has ensured that we have spent £150,000 less than originally planned", after all they have basically done is covered the waiting area of the older Bus Station and rebuilt the building that was once a public toilet. Some people have asked why they didn't reuse the existing buildings by modifying there function rather demolishing buildings that appeared to be structurally sound. Other criticisms of the project, initially, was about the timing of the project which was done during the winter and left elderly waiting for buses near the library with no place to shelter from the cold and wet weather.

Now the people of Oakham have a nice new Bus Station all we need are bus services that meet the ordinary peoples needs and just not those in recite of bus passes like Councillor Roger Bilton Begy OBE. Talking and listening to a number of people that use the bus services in Rutland to get to and from work the service lets them down. This needs addressing by the Rutland Country Council rather than being suppressed. If the the Country Council and the Government are as committed to green as they claim then they need to provide public transport that works for people.