Byron Shire Council says that the wooden bus shelter on Jonson Street outside the Byron Visitors Centre is being removed today with all bus services operating from the new bus interchange on Butler Street in Byron Bay.
A Council release said that the Jonson Street bus stop was decommissioned by Transport for NSW last week when it opened the $8.4m Butler Street bus interchange which was designed to shift transport services out of Jonson Street.
Byron Shire Council’s Acting Manager Major Projects, Chris Soulsby said that with the new bus interchange now in operation, Council will dismantle and remove the wooden shelter at the Jonson Street bus stop which was built by Council as a temporary structure in 1995 awaiting construction of a permanent interchange,’
‘We are removing the shelter because the bus stop is no longer operational and we don’t want people turning up there or dropping their kids off thinking a bus service will be arriving.
‘By removing the structure we are clearly indicating that the interchange on Butler Street is where you need to go to catch a bus.
A hotspot for anti-social behaviour
‘Removal of the shelter structure will also help us reduce the risk of it becoming a hotspot for anti-social behaviour and will open up better pedestrian access in this busy area,’ said Mr Soulsby.
The bus shelter, which served as a landmark to both residents and visitors, has seen many take to the Council’s Facebook page to air their thoughts on the deconstruction, with one poster commenting: ‘End of an era. I remember getting interstate buses to and from there in the 90s. Often getting off the bus to copious amounts of pot being smoked and music being played in the park.’ Another posted: ‘Why can’t the homeless keep using it? Some of them could certainly do with a break and some shelter on a cold wet night and they’ve often packed up and gone in the mornings to leave that beautiful Byron facade for everyone to enjoy.’
Most are wondering why the shelter couldn’t have just stayed where it was.
Plans are underway to upgrade the site surrounding the Visitor Information Centre with landscaping, seating, bicycle racks and access pathways.
These works are scheduled for completion by July 2021, weather permitting.
Something practical and useful as a shelter comes down and something impractical and useless will go up.
If Council built it in 1995 as a temporary structure, why did they not pull it down in 1996.
When this shelter is still there in 2021 it is a PERMANENT structure.
The removal of a bus shelter is the “end of an era”.
So much lol, should we call it the ‘busstopene era’?
The word “Busstopene” era does not make much sense Mr David.
There are silly people everywhere.
School buses, Blanches and Bruns Valley, put up with traffic congestion as it is in their attempt to be on schedule, they should be allowed to still use the bus stop. Coming from Byron Hi they could indeed use the new bypass which is working quite well, but the children at Byron Primary need picking up too, on their way North, not just South, so do arvo buses, and do morning buses have to pick up the Byron kids who attend Byron Steiner and Mullum High , plus the public at the new place or the more convenient old bus stop. Let’s see how it goes. For Buses and all the central AirBnB hosts who drop off at the old bus stop to head down and around via the new bypass, to the new bus stop, the new bypass will now become gridlock. I enjoyed it while it lasted, to pop down and wizz up and out of town.