First rush hour is easy at new Wolverhampton bus station

It has been 14 months in the making but Wolverhampton's £22.5 million bus station is now up and running.

The first bus rolled out of the sleek, glass-fronted station, in Pipers Row, at 6am on Sunday and bus bosses formally declared the centre open for business four hours later at a cake-cutting ceremony.

Today Centro, which runs the station, said it had coped well with today's morning rush hour, which was less busy than normal because of the summer holidays.

It is estimated that 10,000 services will use the station each week and 30 million people will use it each year.

It was built as a replacement for the previous bus station, based on the same site, which closed in April last year.

The centre was officially opened by Wolverhampton's regeneration boss Councillor Peter Bilson who cut a cake in the shape of the futuristic new design.

He said: "It goes without saying this is a fantastic project. We now have an absolutely state-of-the-art centre and it will make Wulfrunians proud for many generations."