A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot also refers to a bus station, it can also refer to a bus garage. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop. It may be intended as a terminal station for a number of routes, or as a transfer station where the routes continue.

Bus station platforms may be assigned to fixed bus lines, or variable in combination with a dynamic passenger information system.^[1] The latter requires fewer platforms, but does not supply the passenger the comfort of knowing the platform well in advance and waiting there.

Accessible station

An accessible station is a public transportation passenger station which provides ready access, is usable and does not have physical barriers that prohibit and/or restrict access by people with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs.^[2]

Largest bus stations

At 37 acres (150,000 m²), the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Chennai, India, is the largest bus station in Asia.^[3]As of 2010, the terminus handled more than 500 buses at a time, and 3,000 buses and 250,000 passengers a day.^[4]

The largest underground bus station in Europe is Kamppi Centre of Helsinki, Finland completed in 2006. The terminal cost 100 million Euro to complete and took 3 years to design and build. Today, the bus terminal, which covers 25,000 square meters, is the busiest bus terminal in Finland. Every day, the terminal has around 700 bus departures, transporting some 170,000 passengers.^[5]

See also