Clipper cards, Saver Sevens and 'vomit-coloured' tiles: The lost bus station under Manchester's Arndale
09.05.2024 - 19:01
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The bus station under Manchester's Arndale, with its Clipper Cards, Saver Sevens and the unmistakable smell of diesel, is a memory for many Mancunians. Despite being dark and dingy with 'vomit-coloured' wall tiles, it holds a certain nostalgia.
This bus station, described as not a place to linger after dark, opened on September 24, 1979. It was part of the £100m construction of the Arndale centre and replaced several smaller, on-street stations in and around the city centre.
The main entrance was located on Cannon Street, with a back door at Shudehill. Inside, there was a travel shop where passengers could purchase the popular Clipper Cards - offering 10 journeys for the price of nine - or Saver Seven weekly bus passes. There was also a newsagents owned and run by Greater Manchester Transport.
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Paul Williams, a volunteer at the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester, recalls that despite the station's flaws, it was a significant improvement on what had been there before. "It was very much of its time," he previously told the Manchester Evening News.
He added: "In the mid 80s I lived in Leigh and regularly caught the last bus home. Let's just say if the bus was at 11pm, you got there at five to. It wasn't the type of place you'd hang about at.
"It was dark, there were lots of dark corners, it smelled of diesel and oil, it had brown and yellow tiling, like the rest of the Arndale, and it was lit by sodium lights so everything had this yellow tinge. It wasn't particularly salubrious, but it did its job."
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