Edinburgh transport: St Andrew Square bus station saved from possible closure as lease is renewed

Coal Pension Properties, who manage property investments for a coal industry workers’ pension scheme, signalled in April last year that they did not intend to renew the current lease when it expires in September 2027.

And there were fears the bus station, vital for the Capital's links all over Scotland and beyond, would be forced to close. The council even thought it might have to look at a compulsory purchase order to ensure it could continue to operate on the city-centre site.

The city council has negotiated a new 15-year lease on the bus station | JPI Media License

But now council officials have negotiated a new deal with the company, which gives it a 15-year lease on the site. There is a 40 per cent rental increase, from £250,000 a year to £350,000, to be reviewed on a five-year basis, but the first six months will be free.

The bus station sees around 25,000 bus movements in and out per month and an annual footfall of between 5.5 and 6 million.

If it had closed, the council would have struggled to find a suitable alternative site anywhere in the city centre and there was a fear buses would end up operating from the street. It was calculated that around 600 metres of kerb space would be required - equivalent to more than half the length of George Street.

There has been a bus station on the St Andrew Square site for nearly 70 years. It opened in 1957 to meet the needs of a growing bus-travelling public, providing covered accommodation for the thousands of people every day coming and going from Edinburgh by bus. Before that, buses had arrived and departed from stances in St Andrew Square itself.

Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said the renewal of the lease was “good news” and praised officials for the successful negotiaitions.

He said: "We need to recognise how important the bus station is for the city - not only where it is, but the fact it has had significant improvements in technology and there has been quite a bit of investment to improve the user experience over the years.

"It's important to maintain that presence in the city centre as a really key transport hub. If we didn't have that, we would be scrambling around trying to find a suitable location in the city centre.

“Although the bus station is so central - not far from Waverley and with a tram stop right outside in St Andrew Square - it is largely out of sight. It's a bit of a hidden gem right in the city centre - people can arrive there and they're bang in the centre of the Capital.”