Farewell the Belconnen Bus Interchange

PBO said :

I think that you are referring to Greg Hinton and whatever he was up to at the time.

Hmm, could be. Ah, such pleasant memories…

JC said :

What is bad is there is no longer going to be an interchange as such. Read the ACTION website and you will see there will be 4 or so ‘super stops’ spread out through Belconnen. I know I would rather change buses (at night in particular) at an interchange were there is likley to CCTV, other passengers and maybe some staff rather than waiting at a street stop.

If anyone thinks that this is an intirm messure then you would be mistaken. What they plan to do is build a new stop at the mall and build a stop where the interchange is, but that is all they are going to be, simple bus stops. Even the mall stop will just be some smallish shelters on the outside of the mall.

The mall stop is intended to be the main interchange with the longer layovers.
Part of the deal with Westfield is that when they build their new multistory carpark with the permanent interchange on top at the future front door of the mall, is that Westfield is responsible for having security guards patrolling the area.

Or least that’s the way I remember reading one of the LDA’s announcements about a year ago.

AstralPlane said :

There is a persistent rumour round town that the BBI was built from a plan bought from the USA – but when built the planners didn’t twig that if you drive on the right hand side is works differently. If you drive on the left you’re driving in the out and crossing all over the place. So… if it had been flipped it over it would have worked properly. Anyone ever thought that through while waiting for that bus?

That is correct.

What was with the heart that was painted on the footbridge over Benjamin Way? Being a southsider I just walked over the top of it, but when I was there with my Belco friends they stepped around it.

Thanks for the pics @johnboy, they capture the place nicely.

niftydog said :

PBO said :

The Nash Brothers – remember them anyone?
The great Nash Bash

Was one of the bros. the martial arts dude who threw some poor sucker off the red footbridge?

I remember:
– being f’n cold and waiting ages for buses in that windy shit hole
– my walkman batteries running out long before I’d reached my destination
– putting up with the smell of urine while sitting in the enclosed rooms for warmth
– that sinking feeling of knowing that your bus departed in 5 minutes but you were still at the far end of the mall
– befriending a bus driver and copping a garbage bag full of used tickets – most with the blue and orange bits still attached to each other!

Not sure if it was that incident, the Nash Bros were grotty twins who copped an unfortunate flogging one day from the Bombers (the crew, floating hat guys). It was sickenly amusing at the time, I would not have wanted to be one of them. I think that you are referring to Greg Hinton and whatever he was up to at the time.

Cold, grimy, dismal, grey…

Sounds like the whole of Belconnen 🙁

Go Southside 🙂

AstralPlane said :

There is a persistent rumour round town that the BBI was built from a plan bought from the USA…

Not too dissimilar to the Glenloch Interchange really…

A couple of memories spring to mind; watching (from unit 1 Cameron offices in the mid 90s) a poor ACTION employee who’d been tarred and feathered and was chained to a pillar. He was there from 9am till after I left work. The school kids gave him hell when they poured in. Thankfully a supervisor was there to keep an eye on him.

Also around that time I remember a little old man driving a mobility scooter. Normally there’d be nothing unusual about that however this mobility scooter was towing a trailer and in the trailer was his wife. Had you looked up at ComSuper that morning you’d have seen the entire staff at the windows watching.

Can someone tell me whats up with these ‘Nash’ Brothers lol.

AstralPlane said :

There is a persistent rumour round town that the BBI was built from a plan bought from the USA – but when built the planners didn’t twig that if you drive on the right hand side is works differently. If you drive on the left you’re driving in the out and crossing all over the place. So… if it had been flipped it over it would have worked properly. Anyone ever thought that through while waiting for that bus?

Think rumor is the word. It wouldn’t have worked the other way anyway, the whole thing was designed as an island platform so people didn’t have to cross the road. Even in the US it would have worked the same way, the difference is the buses would have entered on the other side.

When first built there was a cross over on the bus road located on the western side of Benjamin way which allowed buses to enter and leave the interchange via the bus road at the same time without crossing each others path. Though when re-modeled in the 90’s this cross over was done away with and seperate light phases were introduced for entering and exiting traffic. It was at this time that buses heading towards the south western Belco suburns (Scullin, Higgins, Latham, Macgregor etc) stopped using the bus lane and re-routed via the town centre.

I am not all that impressed with the fact that at least 4 new sets of traffic lights have sprung up as part of this “upgrade”.

That, and they could have included a dedicated bus lane through all of belco in the future plans but seem to have missed the chance.

I have many memories of the old Belco Interchange – some involving goon. And few could forget the Nash brothers.

There is a persistent rumour round town that the BBI was built from a plan bought from the USA – but when built the planners didn’t twig that if you drive on the right hand side is works differently. If you drive on the left you’re driving in the out and crossing all over the place. So… if it had been flipped it over it would have worked properly. Anyone ever thought that through while waiting for that bus?

I had hoped to see all of that land currently being used for carparks and buses being used for higher-density housing. I’m glad to see that the place is being renovated, but will reserve judgement until I see what the outcome is.

I also hope that Woden is next on the list – it’s another place with exceptionally bad use of space. If renovated, the Woden Bus Interchange could also do with housing being built near to where the services are.

JC said :

…
What is bad is there is no longer going to be an interchange as such. Read the ACTION website and you will see there will be 4 or so ‘super stops’ spread out through Belconnen. I know I would rather change buses (at night in particular) at an interchange were there is likley to CCTV, other passengers and maybe some staff rather than waiting at a street stop.

If anyone thinks that this is an intirm messure then you would be mistaken. What they plan to do is build a new stop at the mall and build a stop where the interchange is, but that is all they are going to be, simple bus stops. Even the mall stop will just be some smallish shelters on the outside of the mall.

Exactly my concern, and I can’t see every bus continuing to go through all four stops into the future either.

The temp stop between ATO/CSA and the Labor Club on Cameron ave with 2 carpark entrances looks like several accidents waiting to happen. I’m also guessing that in order to manage this time wise the layover times are going to be 2mins max, so lots of folk will get off one bus to watch their connection leaving.

In the current economic climate will Westfield actually do their bit of the bargain. Predict this will be a mess well into the next ACT Govt.

I’ll be sad to see it go – it’s the biggest remaining piece of a master-plan for Belconnen that never really came together. Ever notice the foot bridge, now gone, between the two blocks of the Benjamin Offices, the bridge link to the Church’s Centre, or the one joining the two blocks of Cameron Offices? The extra level of foot bridge at the Eastern end of the interchange which doesn’t lead anywhere? The whole place was going to be a model of how to integrate road and pedestrian traffic while inconveniencing neither. Whether it was ever going to work or not, I always admire big thinking like that – it’s a shame governments tend to lack the will (or the commitment over a long time) to follow these things through.

“Another Stanhope cock up?”
Yes, he should have had a better look at that work order when it came across his desk!

Good riddance. It has been a dump for years. Hopefully they are going to demolish the horrible footbridge over Benjamin Way as part of the interchange eradication.

shiny flu said :

Riding the busses as a kid with my older sister.

It’s buses actually…

[/spelling nazi off]

The old interchange was good in it’s day. Especially when the heated waiting rooms were in use.

What is bad is there is no longer going to be an interchange as such. Read the ACTION website and you will see there will be 4 or so ‘super stops’ spread out through Belconnen. I know I would rather change buses (at night in particular) at an interchange were there is likley to CCTV, other passengers and maybe some staff rather than waiting at a street stop.

If anyone thinks that this is an intirm messure then you would be mistaken. What they plan to do is build a new stop at the mall and build a stop where the interchange is, but that is all they are going to be, simple bus stops. Even the mall stop will just be some smallish shelters on the outside of the mall.

I remember going to the mall in the early 80’s with my Grandmother and actually using the toilets in the bus interchange..

Mr Evil said :

Um, I’d love to know how much money was spent on repainting that joint orange and green last year – when they knew it was going to be knocked down in 2009????

Yep, my thoughts exactly. This wastage was part of the expensive and unnecessary marketing strategy to get people back on the buses after patronage nose dived when services were cut to the bone in 2006. Another Stanhope cock up?

Mr Evil said :

Um, I’d love to know how much money was spent on repainting that joint orange and green last year – when they knew it was going to be knocked down in 2009????

I was going to point that out too. What a waste of money.

shiny flu said :

Taking my grandpa visiting us from Taiwan from Flynn all the way into the city. Riding the busses as a kid with my older sister.

What street were you in, Shiny? I agree though, anyone growing up in Belco in the 70’s through 90’s would have memories (both good and bad) of the interchange.

MrMagoo said :

I am curious though, why tear down the old one before you’ve built the new one? Cart before the horse…..

Well there is to be a new Bus Station where the old Interchange is.

This link shows how the Belconnen Town Centre will look for the next 18 months or so (http://203.9.249.2/e-registers/pubnote/pdf/SUPP-200913888-Interim_Upgrade_-01.pdf)

Then from November 2010 onwards (http://203.9.249.2/e-registers/pubnote/pdf/SUPP-200913888-Town_Centre_Upgrade-01.pdf)

Um, I’d love to know how much money was spent on repainting that joint orange and green last year – when they knew it was going to be knocked down in 2009????

I suggested to ACTION execs at the March Belconnen Community Council meeting that they might like to post some info at the Belco Interchange that clearly mapped out what was to replace it.

Most bus commuters have no idea that the Belco interchange will be replaced with 4 smaller platforms spread throughout Belconnen central.

All the mornings and afternoons waiting for the school bus. Nice and breezy in summer, rather unpleasantly windy in winter. If you were game enough to venture into the enclosed shelters, you would emerged smelling or urine, alcohol and vomit with a like sprinkling of cleaning product.

Running up the ramps as my dad often dropped me off late trying to not miss the school bus. The clocks of the interchange running late and allowing commuters to thing they could because they had 5 minutes to spare.

Taking my grandpa visiting us from Taiwan from Flynn all the way into the city. Riding the busses as a kid with my older sister.

Randomly meeting a girlfriend from another school… long story of her sourcing my email address from a friend of a friend. Watching the bogan-tracksuit pregnant-at-16 parade in the afternoons.

I’ll miss Belco Interchange. Only in the sense that I spent a few years growing up with it before moving closer to the city.

In all other senses of design and practicality- it should have been rebuilt a long time ago.

PBO said :

I remember:
– being f’n cold and waiting ages for buses in that windy shit hole
– my walkman batteries running out long before I’d reached my destination
– putting up with the smell of urine while sitting in the enclosed rooms for warmth
– that sinking feeling of knowing that your bus departed in 5 minutes but you were still at the far end of the mall
– …

LOL. The memories…. I used to hate getting off the bus at one end of the platform and having to run like the clappers just to have the driver of the bus you need at the other end of the platform wave goodbye to you as he drove off.

Many memories of winter’s evenings at the interchange having to catch a different bus home from footy training after school.

Vale BBI

PBO said :

The Nash Brothers – remember them anyone?
The great Nash Bash

Was one of the bros. the martial arts dude who threw some poor sucker off the red footbridge?

I remember:
– being f’n cold and waiting ages for buses in that windy shit hole
– my walkman batteries running out long before I’d reached my destination
– putting up with the smell of urine while sitting in the enclosed rooms for warmth
– that sinking feeling of knowing that your bus departed in 5 minutes but you were still at the far end of the mall
– befriending a bus driver and copping a garbage bag full of used tickets – most with the blue and orange bits still attached to each other!

I am curious though, why tear down the old one before you’ve built the new one? Cart before the horse…..

random said :

@MrMagoo: Have you seen this page at the ACTION website?

Ta Random, I hadn’t been on the site for a while not sure when that was posted, but most people I chat to on the bus don’t know about this at all.

I always said you could drop an atomic bomb on the Belconnen town centre and do a billion dollars worth of improvements.

I agree with BerraBoy and DMD. I’ll miss it too, although it makes me sad to see it in such a shocking state of disrepair.

@MrMagoo: Have you seen this page at the ACTION website?

All this fluff and bluster about the old interchange. I have one point to riase, what the hellhappens when the interchange does close. No one seems to really know how things will work post the interchange’s closure. Again ACTION servicing the people yet again….NOT!!

Deadmandrinking said :

You will respeck my panda-bear face!

ROFLMAO.

You will respeck my panda-bear face!

Deadmandrinking said :

I’ll miss it.

Also, I think I saw you taking the photos. I may have given you a dirty look, as I usually do when people are taking photos in my direction. I think in one I can be seen from a distance.

C’mon DMD, you were one of the kids getting their face painted weren’t you?

I’ll miss it.

Also, I think I saw you taking the photos. I may have given you a dirty look, as I usually do when people are taking photos in my direction. I think in one I can be seen from a distance.

Brings back memories of November, 1989.

I still remember the collection of interchange folk that used to amuse me such as:

Crazy Vietnamese guy who did No.2’s in the phone area
Bombers (gravity defying hats)
The Nash Brothers – remember them anyone?
The great Nash Bash
Etc

Anyone else have fond/funny memories?

“There are places I remember all my life,
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments
Of lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I loved them all.”

Sums up my feelings and experiences surrounding this interchange perfectly.

It surely won’t be missed.