BACK in February, members of the public were treated to two sessions of a special Transport Workshop’, organised by ESG to unveil what was billed as the city’s new Transport Hub. Participants quickly realised that what independent transportation specialists and ESG executives understand by the word ‘Hub’ are two very different things. At least one distinguished guest walked out, branding the event a ‘sham’.
Speakers outlined a scheme to concentrate many bus arrivals and departures in front of Hereford Station, to improve car parking and provide safe cycle storage. But the appearance of the station forecourt would be little changed, save for the addition of a weather canopied bus stand directly in front of the station building and some token landscaping and benches. Most surprisingly, there was to be no physical segregation of vehicles and pedestrians. More of a cosmetic makeover, as one disappointed visitor put it.
Clitheroe, Corby, Manchester Piccadilly, Stratford East in London, Walsall: transport interchanges up and down the country which should have been used by ESG’s designers as templates for how all forms of transport can be integrated to provide passengers with convenient and comfortable ways of moving from one mode of travel to another. Sadly, it seems Hereford won’t be joining that list of national exemplars.