Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Bradford Council, in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, is bringing forward a flagship programme of forward-thinking transport schemes, alongside major public space enhancements, that will help us shape and drive forward Bradford’s future regeneration in the city centre and beyond. Our overarching vision is to create a greener, more sustainable, accessible, and vibrant district that has immediate benefits for people living, working, visiting and studying in Bradford today, that also paves the way for future investment across the district.   

The proposals being brought forward by Bradford Council will reduce reliance on car travel and contribute to reducing congestion across the district, providing cleaner air, protecting the health of local people, creating greener, more attractive public spaces and providing opportunities for regeneration. These changes will support Bradford’s ambition of becoming the UK’s leading ‘clean growth’ district and act as an enabler to the City of Culture 2025. 

Bradford’s Transforming Cities Fund schemes form an important part of a wider programme of forward-thinking transport and regeneration schemes being brought forward across the district that are helping us shape and drive forward Bradford’s regeneration in the city centre and beyond.  

Through TCF, new public spaces and planting will be created in the city centre, to improve the look and feel of the area and make the city centre an increasingly attractive place to spend time. It will also support more cycling and walking in the city centre to better connect different areas while reducing the impact of major roads that currently dominate parts of key areas in the city centre. Achieving this is crucial to attracting more people to live, work and socialise in the city centre – increasing vibrancy, and attracting new employers to the district, bringing jobs and investment. 

Bradford’s TCF programme is also essential to reducing the current reliance on car travel and subsequent congestion across the wider district, ensuring our air is cleaner air to protect people’s health. This will be crucial in fulfilling our ambition of becoming the UK’s leading ‘clean growth’ district and the wider region’s ambitions of becoming a net zero carbon economy by 2038. 

Investing to improve sustainable transport options in Bradford is in everyone’s interests, making it easier for more people to get about, allowing us to grow the economy and create jobs, increase the vibrancy of our city centre, and support us as we become the City of Culture 2025.  

The Bradford Interchange Station Access Improvements scheme has been designed to play a key role in the ambitious plans to boost the regeneration of Bradford city centre. It will also complement schemes like the Bradford city centre walking and cycling scheme, Bradford Live, One City Park, Darley Street Market, City Village and the legacy of the UK City of Culture celebrations.  

The scheme will see the Interchange become a dramatically improved gateway to Bradford city centre, with a new attractive, high quality access route opening onto City Park and Hall Ings where the soon to be demolished NCP car park currently sits. This will form an attractive and safe route to access bus and train services.  

The new access route will then connect directly to the new attractive green public spaces, including on Hall Ings, and walking and cycle routes that are planned for the city centre, with work on the project to deliver this now underway.   

Alongside the new access route, improvements are also being delivered inside the Interchange to improve the passenger experience. Bradford Council, in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which owns and operates the Interchange, are proposing internal improvements such as new and improved seating, new digital boards displaying bus times, wayfinding and signage improvements Changing Places facilities as well as a new sheltered cycle hub with a mixture of secure and unsecure cycle parking.  

Over the past few years, we have consulted extensively on the external improvements which form part of this scheme including demolishing the NCP car park and creating a new walkway between Hall Ings and the Interchange entrance, and implementing new public space outside of the Interchange. These plans are now well advanced and we will start demolition of the NCP car park to facilitate the scheme in summer 2023. 

However, we have not yet asked for views on the detailed plans for the internal improvements and provision of a cycle-hub which form part of this scheme. We are therefore asking for feedback from residents, commuters and visitors, businesses, community groups and organisations, to ensure we have considered all opportunities and possible issues to these proposed internal improvements.

The aims of the Bradford Interchange Station Access scheme are to: 

Although Bradford Interchange acts as a gateway for accessing the district, it is currently poorly connected to the city centre via Bridge Street and the current environment provides a poor welcome and experience. Providing a good first impression to visitors is important, particularly when we become the UK City of Culture in 2025. 

Improving the pedestrian access to the Interchange would complement a series of other transformational changes being proposed to improve the environment in Bradford city centre through the walking and cycling improvements scheme and transform the ways in which people get about. The scheme would also sit alongside the new Bradford Live, Darley Street Market, Top of the Town Improvements and City Village. It would also help attract new businesses to the city the new offices in One City Park. 

The development of this scheme enhances the area should future changes be made to the Interchange site, for example through Northern Powerhouse Rail which is now back on the government’s agenda, and represents our ambition to provide quality infrastructure in the city centre. The Interchange would continue to be used by both regional train services and bus services and there are no plans to move bus services away from the Interchange. Bus patronage alone at Bradford Interchange is approximately 8 million passengers per year.

The Bus Station Solar scheme is delivering solar photovoltaic panels on seven bus stations across West Yorkshire, including Bradford Interchange. The scheme is a cost effective and fast paced approach to delivering on the Combined Authority and its District Partner’s commitment to tackle the climate change emergency. Delivery will commence shortly and the scheme is anticipated to be completed by Summer 2024. 

The stations of sanctuary scheme will be completed within the interchange this year. The current bus station manager’s office on the lower concourse is due to be refitted to be a ‘sanctuary room’ which would accommodate a variety of needs from asylum seekers, vulnerable persons, medical concerns etc. The bus station manager has been relocated to the security office on the upper bus concourse. 

The travel centre has been moved from the lower concourse to the upper bus concourse, with the work completed in November 2022. The aim was to reduce queues and waiting times, improve accessibility and improve energy efficiency through modernising the services available. Further information on this scheme can be found on your voice. 

The Safety, Accessibility and Environment Programme (SAEP) project involved the installation of tactile signage, help points, a public announcement system, and pedestrian barriers at each bus stand to prevent pedestrians being able to enter the bus carriageway when boarding their bus. The majority of this was completed by September 2022, however the installation of the pedestrian safety barriers at the bus stands on the upper concourse will be carried out through the Bradford Interchange Resurfacing Works project. 

Bradford Interchange Resurfacing Works is currently on site, with an expected completion date of May 2024. The entire bus carriageway is being resurfaced in phases to enable the bus station to remain operational, however the coach stands have been moved to Nelson Street 

Alongside the changes happening inside the bus station, there are a number of schemes happening in the surrounding area.  

Part of the Bradford Interchange Station Access scheme will see the NCP car park demolished to create an improved station approach, better connecting Bradford Interchange to the Bradford City Centre walking and cycling Improvements scheme, including a newly pedestrianised Hall Ings and expanded Norfolk Gardens green space.  

Similarly, as part of the wider Bradford Interchange Station Access scheme the taxi rank and drop-off bays will be relocated onto Bridge Street. A turning circle will be provided where Bridge Street currently intersects Hall Ings as part of this work, allowing taxis and private vehicles to drop off and pick-up easily. These changes were previously consulted on in November 2022, and are being delivered in conjunction with the Bradford City Centre Walking and Cycling plan.  

The Bradford City Centre walking and cycling scheme will also see the pedestrianisation and changes to other roads in the town centre. You can read more here about the scheme here [LINK]. 

Other schemes in the local area include Bradford Live, City Village, One City Park. 

West Yorkshire Combined Authority is responsible for Bradford Interchange and is working in partnership with Bradford Council on their Bradford Interchange Station Access scheme.  

The Combined Authority works with Local Authorities and businesses across West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region to create economic growth through large and small scale infrastructure projects such as this. 

There will no changes to the bus routes currently serving this location as a result of this scheme, as this project is focused on making improvements to the lower concourse between the rail and bus stations. 

Other nearby schemes such as the bus station resurfacing works or the city centre cycling and walking improvements might have an impact on your bus route. We will be working with the bus operators to advertise any route change in advance. 

You can have your say by:  

Everyone is welcome to attend to find out more and ask any questions you may have. 

We welcome opinions and feedback from anyone. Whether you travel by public transport, walk, drive, cycle, are a business owner, local resident or just travel through the area. Your views and insight are valuable to us and will help shape our scheme. 

Please share this page with anyone you think would be interested in taking part in the public engagement. If you intend to submit a joint response on behalf of a group or organisation, please share the link with your colleagues or members so they can provide an individual response, should they wish to do so. 

Your feedback is important, we need to demonstrate that we have taken onboard feedback as part of the on-going development of the wider scheme. 

The feedback provided as part of this engagement will be taken into consideration for future improvements work subject to additional funding availability. 

Hardcopies of the engagement materials can be requested using the Freephone information line number 0808 196 9119. 

We are also holding drop-in events at Bradford Interchange on Tuesday 15th from 10am to 2pm and Wednesday 23rd from 2pm to 6pm where officers from Bradford Council and the Combined Authority will be available to answer any questions. 

We will be proceeding with demolition of the NCP car park in summer 2023 to ensure we can begin delivery of the full Bradford Interchange Station Access Improvements Scheme as soon as our designs are finalised following the conclusion of this engagement and we are ready to begin construction.  

Once plans for the Interchange scheme are finalised, construction on the pocket park will commence with the concrete from the demolished Hall Ings car park recycled and used to fill in Jacobs Well roundabout. 

This engagement is asking for feedback on the proposed internal improvements from the city centre residential community, residents across the district, commuters and visitors to Bradford city centre, local businesses, local groups and organisations, to ensure we have considered all opportunities and possible issues.  

Your feedback will allow us to be confident that our proposals are fit for purpose and make improvements as we enter the detailed design phase of the proposals. 

After this engagement, the internal plans for the Bradford Interchange Station Access Improvements Scheme will be further developed and all feedback received will be considered. A Full Business Case for the entire scheme, including the internal and external proposals, will be produced and this will go to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority for consideration later in the year. 

If the Combined Authority approves the Full Business Case, we will begin construction of the full scheme in the spring of 2024, with the NCP car park being demolished in summer 2023.