Overview

This bus station was in central Edinburgh and had nine gates which served two coaches each, meaning a maximum of 18 coaches might be here at one time. It had two entrances/exits at either end of the bus station. There were toilets, including an accessible one and baby changing facilities. There were also paid lockers to store luggage, vending machines for drinks and snacks, and rentable phone chargers. Inside the station there was also a small cafe and a WHSmith. There was lots of seating inside for people to use.

Transport & Parking

This station had a tram stop outside the St Andrew Square entrance/exit. Of course, there are lots of coaches that stop and depart from here. Edinburgh Waverley Train Station is 0.3 miles away and includes and number of bus stops outside where the following buses stop: 1, 4, 15, 16, 19, 25, 26, 29, 34, 37, 43, 44, N11, N16, N18, N25, N26, N28, N30, N31, N37, N43, N107, N113, N124, X6, X18, X19, X26, X37, X38, X39 (bus schedules vary) There is no parking here but it is close to St James Quarter which has paid parking facilities.

Access

There were two entrances and exits to the bus station. St Andrew Square: The entrance on St Andrew Square had automatic, sliding doors to enter and then you had to go down a level to enter the station properly. There were two escalators, one to ascend, one to descend, and a lift. When I visited the escalator that brought you up to the exit from the main station was out of order so it meant the lift was more in demand. The lift was a bit narrow but longer than it looked, it managed to fit two wheelchair users and two other people in it without much difficulty. Elder Street: The entrance on Elder Street was set on quite a steep hill and there was a pelican crossing right outside it, marked with tactile pavement. It had automatic, sliding doors to enter and then there was a ramp down to the main station walkway. The ramp wasn’t too steep and had grab rails on both sides and down the centre. It also had a section in the middle that levelled out. There was lots of seating all the way down the main walkway of the station. There were nine gates which each served two bus stops, so the station could have 18 buses there at one time. There were nine windows at the helpdesk with one being at a lowered height. When I visited it seemed like it was just the lowered window that was manned with most of the windows showing a closed sign. While it wasn't particularly busy when I was there it could be much more crowded if it was a busier time. When coaches were preparing to start letting people on it created a queue inside the bus station which made navigating the crowds more difficult. I asked if there was a hearing loop here but they didn’t have one. I also struggled to find any available plug sockets. While there were facilities to charge phones and devices I wasn’t able to see any plug sockets that could perhaps be used to charge mobility devices. I didn't see Braille being used anywhere either.

Toilets

The accessible toilet here was accessed via RADAR key and opened outwards. On the inside, the door had a grab rail mounted horizontally to make closing the door from the inside easier. There was one coat hook that was mounted very high on the back of the door. The toilet had been placed in quite a central position. For those with narrow wheelchairs you may be able to position and transfer from either side of the toilet but there are some obstacles such as bins and the sink that may get in the way. There were three fixed, vertical grab rails; two on the wall on either side of the sink and one on the wall behind the toilet. There was also a grab rail that could be raised and lowered on the right-side of the toilet (right-side when sat on the toilet). The red cord was hanging freely but unfortunately had been cut at some point so it did not reach the floor. The bottom of the cord came to about the same height as the toilet flush which was on top of the toilet cistern. The sink had a tap that was manual operated, not automatic. There was a hand towel dispenser mounted on the wall. There were three bins in the toilet; a feminine hygiene waste bin - this had a hand operated lid, a bin for diapers or other similar items - this had a foot-operated button but could be opened by hand, and a bin for paper towels and general waste - this had no lid. There was a large, full-length mirror mounted to the wall behind the sink. Overall, the toilet was well maintained (apart from the red cord) and had a cleaning rota checklist on the back of the door that seemed to be up to date.

Staff

There was one member of staff available at the helpdesk window who was available to everyone and happy to answer our questions about accessibility. There were other members of staff around and clearly capacity to have more at the helpdesks during busy times.

Photos