Thousands of Nottingham bus passengers and motorists are facing changes to their journeys after the closure of the Broadmarsh bus station.
The site closed on Monday ahead of its demolition in a planned £250 million revamp of the south side of the city.
Drivers are using alternative car parks and bus passengers are being re-directed to alternative stops on streets nearby.
The bus station was taped off on Monday morning, with staff directing people and handing out leaflets with a map of the new stops.
The car park will remain open until next month.
The entire project is expected to transform the area by 2020, but also create disruption for motorists and bus passengers.
And the demolition of the car park and bus station, which is to become part of a new shopping, cinema, leisure and restaurant complex, is due to start within weeks.
Gary Fountain, 40, from Ilkeston, was waiting at a Station Street stop with his family to catch a Megabus to Butlin’s resort in Skegness.
He said he was confused by the changes because when he recently checked online he read he had to catch the bus from the Broadmarsh.
But he said he received an email from the travel company to catch the bus from Station Street last night (July 9) and a taxi driver took them from their home to the new stop.
Gary was due to catch the bus at 10.05am which hadn’t turned up by 10.20am.
He said: “The bus should have been here at 10.05am. It’s not here and we don’t know where it is. We got here in a taxi and they knew where we were supposed to be.
“We only found out [about the Broadmarsh Bus Station closing] from somebody else who told us it was closing. We got an email last night to come here instead.”
June Gorne, 74, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, said she came into Nottingham on the bus this morning and got off at the Victoria Centre.
She said she used to travel to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, each Tuesday on the bus from the Broadmarsh to look around the town’s market and see her family.
And June travelled to the city today to find out where she needs to catch the bus from tomorrow (June 11) now the Broadmarsh has closed.
She said: “I get off at the Victoria Centre but I wasn’t sure on the link that normally comes into the Broadmarsh from the Victoria Centre. I catch my Melton bus from the Broadmarsh.
“The first I heard of it was on the news on telly last night. I normally go to market day in Melton Mowbray on Tuesdays, but I thought I would come this morning to find out what’s what.
“I’ll come as long as I can get my connections to Melton, because I’ve got family there.”
The news comes a week after two temporary, open air car parks opened last Monday (July 3) on Canal Street to compensate for the 870 park spaces lost at the Broadmarsh site.
The bus routes affected include the Trent Barton service to Cotgrave, which has been relocated to Mount Street and Collin Street.
The i4 and Indigo services have also been moved to Friar Lane, while Nottingham City Transport’s Turquoise Line has moved to Collin Street.
A man who got off at Collin Street, but did not want to give a name, said: “I’m not bothered about it. There’s no difference between the new stop and the Broadmarsh.”
Freestone Charles, 90, from St Ann’s, got off at Canal Street and was worried about crossing busy traffic on Collin Street to make his way to the Victoria Centre.
He said: “It’s the first day of it today. I’ve got to walk right across the road to get across. I had to enquire this morning to see if it’s still free – and it is.
“I always go to the Victoria Centre from the Broadmarsh.”
And Mr Charles said the redevelopment of the site should have happened ‘a long while ago’ and described the site as an ‘eyesore’.
He added: “It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Look at it, it’s like a prison.”
Peter Dolan, a volunteer at Nottingham City Council, has been handing out leaflets and telling people where they need to catch buses from.
He said: “There has been a lot of information that has been up [at the Broadmarsh Bus Station] there for a couple weeks. These leaflets have been given out for several weeks. Having said that, people still come up and say ‘is it closing?’ Despite the publicity.”
He said the site is looking a ‘little bit tired’, adding: “We’re helping people find their national buses or local buses, giving them directions.”
A 64-year-old man from Basford, who did not want to be named, said he regularly catches buses to Leicestershire to walk around the countryside, which he used to catch from the Broadmarsh.
He said: “The buses are still running. It’s absolutely fine, it’ll be nice when it’s [the redevelopment] done. I don’t think Nottingham has ever been big enough to support two shopping centres.
“It’s no longer going to be shops, it’s going to be more about cafes and entertainment. That might work.”
National Express coach services have moved to Station Street, while the Megabus service will pick up from outside the Waterfront House, Station Street.
