Overview

There is not a lot going on at the National Express bus station in Leeds, but all the essentials are covered. There are ticket counters, ticket machines, inside seating, a little café and toilets. If you are taking a bus, it does the job, but there is no real reason to visit for the other amenities, as you will find equal if not better elsewhere in the area.

Transport & Parking

In addition to the buses stopping at the bus station, there are also bus stops on York Street, for example Cultural H (4, 4F, 16, 16A, 19, 19A, 64) and Cultural G (75, 163, A1 Flyer). There is limited on-street parking, but the NCP The Markets and Victoria Multi Storey Car Parks are close by and the latter also has EV charging stations.

Access

The main entrance on George Street/Dyer Street has automatic sliding doors and level access. There are no tactile markings. There are regular height counters at the ticket office, but the two ticket machines are at a decent height for wheelchair users. There is quite a lot of seating around, which is mostly benches with backrests and individual seats, but not armrests between every one of them, only at the side. There is an automatic sliding door leading out to the stances, which are all along one level walkway that can also be accessed from York Street. There is no seating there and no shelter from the weather. The curb along the edge of the stances is marked with yellow paint.

Toilets

The toilets are towards the middle past the ticket counter and café. They are not free and you have to pay to get through a tripod turnstile. There is a gate at the side for wheelchair access that needs to be unlocked by an employee. When I visited, there was a sign on the disabled bathroom saying the toilet was broken, but since I was encouraged by the employee who let me in to use it anyways, I wonder if it was to deter people from using it. There is one medium-sized accessible bathroom in the middle between the women's toilet on the left and the men's toilets on the right. The door opens to the outside. No key is needed to access the bathroom. There is no door opener. There is a handrail on the back of the door and it locks by lifting the lever handle. The toilet is on the back wall and to its left there is a fixed vertical handrail and horizontal handrail that can be lifted and moved out of the way. There is also a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the right of the toilet. The toilet seat is elevated. The toilet paper holder is to the right of the toilet. There is space for a right-side transfer, but the large foot pedal bin to the left of the toilet might get in the way. The red cord is to the right of the toilet. When I visited, it was ticked behind the small foot pedal sanitary bin also on that side. There are vertical handrails on either side of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap has a short lever. There is a wall-mounted soap dispenser above the sink. There is only a hand dryer to the left of the sink, no paper towels. On the right wall as you come in, there are first a mirror, which is fairly high up, and then a wall-mounted baby change that folds down in the back corner.

Staff

When they saw me looking at the barrier to the toilets, a member of staff came over to let me through before I could even look around for someone to help me. I tried to ask them about the out of order sign on the disabled bathroom and they said I should just go ahead and use it, but I wasn't quite sure that they understood and I did not want to risk using a broken toilet, so I decided to try somewhere else.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The National Express bus station is connected to the Leeds Bus Station through walkways in the middle between the buildings. There are automatic sliding doors there as well as a slight downward slope coming from National Express, that has some worn-out tactile markings.

Photos