Busy bus station close to main railway station
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Date of visit: November 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Average
The Queen Square Bus Station is located quite close to Liverpool Lime Street Station. It has 13 bus stands set over the two sides of the station. There is an enclosed waiting area at each bus stand with glass walls and a roof to protect from any bad weather. There were four seats inside each area but people were also sitting on the small concrete walls at the base of the glass windows. The stands were all labelled with large numbers, one directly overhead so they could be seen from afar and another on the end of each stand, so that you could see the numbers clearly from the pavement as you approached. There was a central building on one side of the bus station called Queen Square Travel Centre. This had an area with information desks, a Greggs with some tables and chairs and an accessible toilet. The building was quite cramped and so I found it quite difficult to navigate. The area with information desks was off to the side from the area with the seating and Greggs so I actually missed it when I first entered. As the day was fairly sunny and the inside of the building was quite dark I also think that because it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dramatic change in lighting, that was another reason I missed the desks on the right-hand side. The accessible toilet was up a short ramp and the door was quite heavy and it was slightly obstructed by a stack of highchairs. I had to ask a member of the public to help me get into it. The travel centre itself felt very cramped and busy and I wouldn’t have found it comfortable finding a space at one of the tables in my wheelchair. The bus stands all seemed a bit more spacious but some were definitely busier than others.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The bus station was set on a slight hill so Stand 1 was downhill from the other end of the bus station where the travel centre was located. The stands were set across two sides of the road where the buses entered and there were pedestrian crossings at either end of the station, which provide safe places to cross from one side to the other. Each bus stand had a large number mounted on top of the stand’s shelter which seemed to be designed so the stand could be identified from further away, or across the station. There was then another number on the side of each stand to help to identify them from the pavement as you approached each one. Underneath these numbers on the side of the stands, there were some information boards with bus details. There was a shelter at each stand which had tall glass windows and a roof to protect from bad weather. These shelters don’t have doors, so they aren’t heated in any way. They all had around four seats inside each shelter but many people also sat on the small concrete wall at the base of the large glass windows. Some of these stands seemed to get quite busy with a fairly large crowd around them. There were some digital boards around the station with information about bus timings on them. The travel centre had automatic doors to enter and had an area with information desks, a Greggs with seating and an accessible toilet. The building was quite small and felt very cramped and difficult for me to navigate in my wheelchair. I missed the area with the information desks for buying tickets when I first entered as it’s to the side of the area with the seating available and the accessible toilet. The tables and chairs felt quite cramped and I wouldn’t have felt comfortable sitting at one in my wheelchair due to the limited space. There was a small, curved ramp which led to the accessible toilet and some more seating on a slightly higher level. This had a grab rail and wasn’t too steep. There are no alternative formats in use.
Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Good
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
There are a number of bus services available from this bus station. Buses are operated by Arriva North West, Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire, and HTL Buses. The various stands and stops within the station and the services that stop at each one are listed below. Some numbers are repeated within some lists as there are some services run by different operators with the same number: - Stop A: 7, 8, 9, 10, 10B, 10S, 12, 13, 14, 14, 14A, 14B, 14C, 15, 17, 17A, 19, 21, 47, 52, 52A, 53, 53, 55, 55D, 58, 58, 61, 76, 78, 79C, 300, 310, 345, X2 - Stand 1: 8, 8E, 9, 10B, 10S - Stand 2: 10, 10A - Stand 3: 12, 13 - Stand 4: 15, 18 - Stand 5: 14, 14A, 14B, 14X - Stand 6: 17, 17A, 17X, 19, 19X - Stand 7: 20, 20X, 21 - Stand 8: 7, 61, 76, 78, 79C - Stand 9: 10A, 18 - Stand 10: 47, 300, 310, 345 - Stand 11: X2, 53 - Stand 12: 838 Liverpool Lime Street Railway station is around 700-800 metres from the bus station, depending on the route you take. There are some fairly steep inclines on some of the roads between the two. From the railway station, there are a number of train lines operating, including East Midlands Railway, Transpennine Express, London Northwestern Railway, Northern, Avanti West Coast, and Transport for Wales. Between all these operators there are trains to Norwich, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria, Manchester Airport, Manchester Oxford Road, Sheffield, Nottingham, Peterborough, Glasgow Central, Birmingham New Street, Runcorn, Crewe, Warrington Central, Wigan North Western, Blackpool North, London Euston, Chester, and other stations along the way. Below the main station, on Platform A, is the metro service operated by Merseyrail. This station is on the Wirral line and provides services towards Chester, New Brighton, West Kirby, and Ellesmere Port. For other destinations, you may need to change at the next station on from Lime Street, Liverpool Central, or the one after that, James Street. There is a paid car park operated by Q-Park 230 metres from the bus station called Q-Park Queen Square. According to the website it has a total of 537 spaces, including 31 accessible parking spaces and 8 EV charging points. It has a height restriction of 2 metres.
Accessible facilities: Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Poor
The accessible toilet was located at the back of the space inside the travel centre. It was up a small, curved ramp. The door opened outwards but there wasn’t much space around it and there were also highchairs stacked along the wall. This meant that I really struggled to open the door by myself because I couldn’t get alongside the door. Instead, I had to try and reach across my power attachment on the front of my wheelchair and try to pull the door towards me, which was really hard for me to do. Eventually, after trying without much luck a few times, I asked a member of the public to help me open the door so I could get inside. On the inside, the door had a horizontal grab rail and a lock that twisted upwards to lock the door. The lock had a large handle to operate it which could be turned with a fist or elbow. The toilet was on the left-hand side of the toilet (as you looked at it from the door) and had a small amount of space for a right-side transfer. There was a large bin at the back of the space that could obstruct some people from using it. There was a height-adjustable grab rail that came down into the transfer area which made it even smaller. There was a vertical grab rail on the wall behind the toilet and a horizontal grab rail on the side underneath the toilet-paper dispenser. The toilet had no lid and had a plastic back-rest. The flush was a circular button, which seemed too small to be pressed with a fist or elbow, and it was mounted on the cistern. It was placed on the same side as the transfer area so you did not have to reach across the toilet to use it. In front of the toilet were two small sinks at different heights. The lower one had a single tap on the right of the sink. The tap was manually operated and had a short, thin handle which seemed like it could be operated with a fist or elbow. The tap twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. There was also a vertical grab rail on either side of this sink. The higher sink had two taps, one for hot water and one for cold. They both twisted to control the flow of water. There was a manual soap dispenser above both sinks and an automatic hand dryer between them. On the wall opposite the sinks was a baby-changing table on the wall and a long mirror. The red emergency cord was hanging freely by the toilet, however it was too short and stopped a good few feet away from the floor. It would be very difficult to reach it if someone had fallen to the floor and was unable to get up. The toilet felt slightly neglected on the whole, it seemed clean but only on a surface level. It didn’t seem like much time was spent maintaining it. The room overall was also quite small and cramped. Someone with a large powerchair may struggle for space.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
I didn’t see any staff at the bus station. I didn’t spend much time inside the travel centre because of how cramped and busy it was. I didn’t see anyone around the bus stands themselves.
