Newport (Isle of Wight) Bus Station - History - Redevelopment

Redevelopment

The plans for redevelopment were first revealed in September 2003 for 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of retail space to be created on the old bus station site. Plans were finally approved almost a year later in July 2004. The approved plans were slightly different to those originally lodged, with only 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of retail space and a reduced number of shops.

Redevelopment started from the old bus station from summer 2005. During this time a temporary bus lane was set up alongside Church Litten with bus shelters erected in South Street Car Park. Buses set down in the bus lane, and stopped to pick up passengers at one of the three bus stands in Church Litten, lettered A, B or C.

The exception to this was that almost all buses from Hunnyhill used a stop in the South Street bus lane, opposite the old bus station. At the point the redevelopment work began, this meant services 2, 2B, 3, 3A and 3B towards Sandown Bay or Ventnor. Services 21 and 24 also used this stop so that all buses to Sandown Bay left from the same place. After the network revision of 1 April 2006, only route 1 to and from Cowes used this stop, all other routes serving the stands in Church Litten. This was partly due to this route's high frequency (every 7–8 minutes at the time), and also because Newport was now the end of the route, and buses could layover at the stand before continuing back to Cowes. Its redevelopment has been pictured. The work was completed in July 2006, when the new bus station was opened.