INTERCHANGE TAG A STRETCH

TO describe Stockport’s proposed new bus station as a ‘Transport Interchange,’ as Councillor Kate Butler did in your columns recently, is stretching things a bit.

The word ‘interchange’ suggests a link between different forms of transport.

I went to see the plans when they were on display at Prince’s Street some time ago and one of the council’s planning consultants told me that there would be no direct link between rail and bus stations because of topographical and land ownership problems.

I accept that the revamped bus station will have space set aside for the Metrolink, but it is unlikely we will see the tram arrive in Stockport within the next 10 years, at least.

There are helpful things that could be done without waiting for the major bus station project.

The overgrown, dark, forbidding and unsafe footpath between Daw Bank and the station approach could be cleared and tidied, better signage could be installed and train timetables could be available at the bus station and bus timetables at the railway station.

These measures could be done quickly and wouldn’t cost much. Grahame Buxton Hazel Grove