The Milton Keynes Coachway (also Milton Keynes coach station) is a Coachway interchange close to junction 14 of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

on the eastern edge of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, north

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England. It supports

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

intercity coach services to cities, towns and airports on the M1 (and the roads that it connects to), and on into Scotland, to

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

Gatwick Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwick was the second-bu ...

, Stansted and

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, England, situated east of the town centre, and is the fourth-busiest airport serving London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Limited, a company wholly owned by ...

s, as well as Stagecoach East's route X5 between

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, and interchange between these services. There are also local bus services and nearby, a park and ride site. It is the second busiest coach station in the United Kingdom. Dating from 1989,''City wins new coach stop'' Milton Keynes Citizen, 20 April 1989, page 3 it was the first of the UK's Coachway interchanges.

History

There has been a coach interchange at M1 Junction 14 since April 1989, constructed by Buckinghamshire County Council (as the then highway authority). By the early 2000s, the original building had become worn out and plans were begun to replace it with a new building, with funding support from the government. In 2006 works were carried out on this junction to widen the slip roads, to install new traffic signals, to create a dedicated left-turn lane from the A509 to the northbound M1, to widen the southbound A509 to three lanes between J14 and Northfield roundabout, and to create a new access road from the A5130 to the (then) proposed new 500 space park-and-ride site. This work was in advance of the planned re-development of the coachway and park and ride site. Plans for the new coachway were released in April 2008 and services were moved on a temporary basis to Silbury Boulevard. At that time it was expected that work would be completed by spring 2009. Facilities at the temporary site included a waiting room, café, ticket office, toilets, a shop with taxi booking facilities and approximately 60 adjacent parking spaces with CCTV and 24-hour on-site security. All local services along this section of Silbury Boulevard stopped at the temporary coachway. In March 2009 it was announced that work would be delayed, with completion expected in 'spring/summer 2010' due to higher than expected tender prices requiring the council to source a further £600,000. Construction was managed by Milton Keynes Council until it was passed to the

Homes and Communities Agency Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act ...

in September 2010. Work on the structure was underway by October 2009 when the steel frame could be seen from the motorway. The final fitting out was undertaken by National Express who operate the station on behalf of the council and the agency. The new interchange opened on 13 December 2010. The cost of the project was £2.6 million funded by the Milton Keynes Partnership and the Growth Area Fund via the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

Facilities

The coach station building has a café, a shop, toilets, cycle racks and facilities to book taxis and

National Express Coaches National Express, also abbreviated NX, is a Intercity bus service, long and medium-distance intercity coach operator operating services throughout Great Britain. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational public transport company Mobico G ...

. Near-real-time status screens show arrivals and departures for National Express services. Other operators' services are not shown. The building and access to it are wheelchair-friendly by design. National Express services are announced but those of other operators are not.

Service summary

, these are the routes that call at the coachway: National Express: East Midlands to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports; Newcastle, Darlington and Leeds to London (Victoria); Sunderland, Middlesbrough, York and Leeds to London; Derbyshire and Leicestershire to London; Mansfield and Nottingham to London; Northampton and Milton Keynes to London; Lancashire and Manchester to London; Liverpool via Stoke-On-Trent to London; Huddersfield and Sheffield to London; Bradford and Leeds to London; Scarborough, York, Hull and Doncaster to London; The Lake District and Blackpool to Birmingham and London; Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Carlisle to London; Edinburgh to London and Heathrow Airport; Blackpool, Birmingham, London; Stansted, Luton, Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Stagecoach: Oxford, Bicester, Bedford.

References

Footnotes

External links

Building the new Milton Keynes Coach StationNew coachway building plans
(early photos) {{Transport in Milton Keynes Bus stations in England Transport in Milton Keynes Transport infrastructure completed in 1989 1989 establishments in England