Councils urged to stop putting coach stops in ‘dingy’ areas
Share:
Urban councils are being urged to provide better coach stops by an industry body which claimed passengers are often dropped off in “dingy” areas. Graham Vidler, chief executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), said many locations designated for coaches are “not a great advertisement” for towns or cities.
Speaking at the organisation’s annual conference in central London, he told the PA news agency: “If you go to many towns and cities across the country, they haven’t really thought through what to do with coaches and coach passengers when they come.
“You’ll often find that the drop-off and pick-up points are in a dingy part of town. “They’re underneath the railway arches in central Manchester, for example. “It’s not a great experience for coach passengers. “It’s not a great advertisement for the town or city that’s doing it.
“What we want to see is local authorities doing a little bit more work with us to understand what are the places that coaches are likely to visit, what are the times of year when they’re likely to come, and what are the opportunities for growing that.”.
Recent research commissioned by CPT found that coach passengers in Britain spend an estimated total of £8.3 billion a year in local economies. The study, conducted by financial services company KPMG, calculated that one daily coach to a destination can deliver £1 million in local economic value.
