Viking Bus Station

[Windwalker]

Now I wonder how many council officials it took to design and come up with that idea. Plus how much has it cost.? Chocolate fire guard comes to mind.

[suuusssiiieee]

So much for the promises - i note the toilets have now closed. 

[Colin]

So much for the promises - i note the toilets have now closed. 

Make a statement..  Pee against the door..  If you get lifted for it, name SIC et all as co-defendants.

[MuckleJoannie]

Following a letter to the Shetland News here is the latest news on the Viking.

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/newsbites/10094-viking-waiting-room-update

 

 

plans to convert the waiting room into a café needed planning and building control approval

and

 

 

once the new café is open, people would still be able to use the facility as a waiting room without the obligation to buy a drink.

[Colin]

"It is not a bus station anymore. It has been a good will gesture, agreed between me and the council, to leave the waiting room open."

 

Says it all doesn't it....

 

As for 'rejecting' the criticism that it is a "dark, dingy and unappetising place of dereliction',  I have been in there in the last week or so and would suggest that Mrs Ho is living on a different planet to the rest of us.

 

The following link says it all;

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/letters/10089-lack-of-care

 

The SIC officials who proposed  this particular piece of 'cost saving' and the councillors who backed it should hang their heads in shame and, imho, should all be sacked.

[Colin]

As an aside, I wonder how long it will be before someone sues them for personal injury caused by the lack of grit and salt on the walkways?

 

example;

This morning I alighted from a bus at the Viking and headed towards commercial street only to find that the pathway was devoid of any grit and salt.

Despite taking extra care and, being unable to walk on the road because a bus  was entering the bus park, I slipped and only just managed to remain on my feet.  What was really disturbing was the 'camber' of the walkway which took me towards the roadway and an approaching bus.  Could have had a nasty 'squashy' type accident very easily.

The SIC (bless em) had managed to grit and salt the pavement alongside the bus station so, presumably, as they no longer 'own' the pathway around the bus station, are not willing to grit there.

 

If Mrs Ho reads this then I would suggest to her that with ownership comes responsibility and that 'rejecting' criticism out of hand is not an option..

[Urabug]

I hear a rumour that the council sold the "car park" with the rest of the bus station and now pay to lease it back.

 

I canna tink dis could be true!!!!

[paulb]

i can. 

[Colin]

I do....

[MuckleJoannie]

Selling a property then leasing it back is quite a common transaction. It releases capital for the seller. There are a few private businesses in Lerwick that I know of have done the same over the years.

[Colin]

Selling a property then leasing it back is quite a common transaction. It releases capital for the seller. There are a few private businesses in Lerwick that I know of have done the same over the years.

SIC sold the building AND the bus stand when all that was necessary to achieve their aims was to sell the building on it's own.

Now they are in the stupid position of having to pay an unnecessary lease/rental  on the bus park..

Where are the 'savings' in that?  Not 'good business' in my opinion.

Also, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the SIC has blundered itself into a position whereby the new owners may (eventually) opt for some kind of 'change of use' for the bus station and decide to keep(?) the bus park as parking for it's own patrons.  Then where would we be?

[Ghostrider]

^ Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding was the objective of the exercise was to reduce costs borne by the SIC. That being the case, I'm yet to be convinced selling anything was the best outcome, or, if selling was in some way the "lesser evil", than selling both building and carpark was any better/worse an outcome than just selling the building.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Ghostrider

[Urabug]

So wir pride n joy of a bus station is just a bus stop now, not even a convenient one as you canna hae a pee.no left luggage no nothing.

 

Buses would be better to use South lochside as a terminus at least folk would find a café, facilities and be able to wait in the warmth in the Clickamin Centre.

 

Buses could then just go around the town picking up at the bus stops then go there separate ways.

 

Splended way to encourage tourists,!

[Lukkiminnie]

 

SIC sold the building AND the bus stand when all that was necessary to achieve their aims was to sell the building on it's own.

Now they are in the stupid position of having to pay an unnecessary lease/rental on the bus park..

Where are the 'savings' in that? Not 'good business' in my opinion.

Also, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the SIC has blundered itself into a position whereby the new owners may (eventually) opt for some kind of 'change of use' for the bus station and decide to keep(?) the bus park as parking for it's own patrons. Then where would we be?

 

Can I suggest that the page titled 'Shetland Rumor Mill' on a well know social media site would be a better destination for this sort of post - not wanting to stand in the way of a bit of cooncil-bashing, but I suspect the o/p could easily have established that is was in fact only the building which was sold....

Edited February 4, 2015 by Lukkiminnie

[Ghostrider]

^ Not to detract from your point, but surely the crux of the whole thing here is the terms of sale of the building, not what was or wasn't sold. From what's happening in practice, it would appear the current owners of the building have pretty much been given carte blanche to do whatever they like with it. Was the council yet again such a bunch of numpties as sell it and not include terms that adequate? "Bus Station" facilities continued to be provided from it, or is it that yet again they are being as incompetent that even though such terms were included, they're not ensuring they're complied with?

 

Whichever of the above applies, it makes little odds who owns the parking area, as without "facilities" its not a "Bus Station", it is just that, a "parking area", which could as adequately be provided at any number of locations around the town which would be equally if not more so "central" and "suitable".

 

If savings was their goal, very possibly they'd have been better off selling the lot and coming to an agreement with the LPA (*if* they're talking to each other again after the Bressa Brig debacle) to park on a section of the pier instead. I can't imagine many drivers would have objected, the Viking is a crabbit hol, and it would have dumped folk off at the Town Service bus/taxi rank, which anybody going anyplace but the street or Commercial Road (which is more and more as time passes) needs to use anyway.