Bus Stops

Questions asked and possible outcome of research

What is the essence of a bus stop?What and how is it used?Could it be something else?

…imagined outcome so far in the process:

• encourage social interaction– design solution that inspires social interaction?

• encourage observation experience– enhance the interesting aspects of observing people and life around you while waiting at the bus stop?

• seating optimized for the amount and types of users– self adjusting? self multiplying? shapes to the user automatically?

• efficiency of weather protection– self adjusting? open/closed when needed? appropriate material(s)? Energy saving.

• information – sufficient on which bus to catch where, and when it arrives

…what is a bus stop?

…designated place where a public transport bus stops for the purpose of allowing passengers to board or leave the bus

Wikipedia.org

“Undervalued, neglected and sometimes abused, the […] bus stop provides a valuable link to the world beyond.

The humble bus stop gives shelter from the elements and a chance to contemplate life as the world passes by. Every bus stop is unique, every bus stop has a story to tell...”

- http://www.topofthestops.co.uk/

“The bus stop in its own humble way is as important to a well organized system as the buses. After all, if you do not know where the bus is supposed to stop, how are you going to ride the system.”

- http://www.the-bus-stops-here.org/

Street furniture is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed on

streets and roads for various purposes, including benches, post boxes, phone

boxes, streetlamps, street lighting, traffic lights, traffic signs, bus stops, garbage bins,

tram stops, taxi stands, public lavatories, fountains and memorials.

“Street furniture itself has become as much a part of many nations' identities asdialects and national events, so much so that one can usually recognise thelocation by their design.”

Wikipedia.org

Types of bus stops

• Flag Stop - This is an unmarked stop that is served by request of the passenger. The term comes out of Railroads where there were stops along the route that were served only when a flag was raised.

• Regular Stop - Your standard bus stop marked with a sign and having one or more additional facilities.

• Transfer Stop - These stops are located where people transfer from one route to another. The routes will either serve the same stop, or stops a short walk apart.

• Limited Stop route Stop - A stop served by a limited stop route. These routes commonly follow the same routing as a regular route, but only stop at certain stops.

• Express Stop - A stop that is served by an express route, these routes usually operate for some distance between stops, in same cases this may be many miles or kilometres between stops.

• Transit Centre - This is an area that is designed for several bus or rail routes. These may either be simple on street stops, or very complex off street facilities. One common feature of transit centres is for various routes to have individual stops, not all transit centres are set up this way, but many are. Transit centres will usually have multiple passenger facilities, such as shelters and benches, and also will usually have some form of information available for the passengers, this may include a staffed information centre where passengers can buy passes and get printed schedules. There might also be sanitary facilities for the drivers who have breaks at this point.

• Layover Stop - A stop where the bus sits at the end of a line. Sometimes this is a dedicated stop where passengers are not allowed to board.

• Temporary or Portable Stop - These are usually mounted on portable stands and are used for special events, or for when a regular bus stop is closed for one reason or another (most often construction). These can be mounted on an existing pole, or on a portable pole of some type.

Facilities commonly found at bus stops

• Sign - This is what usually defines where the bus stop is located. Most places have the bus stop with the front door near the sign. Almost every bus stop has a sign.

• Bench - This can be owned by the controlling agency or by a private company. These can be concrete or mixed concrete and wood or plastic. Private benches frequently have advertising on them.

• Garbage can• Shelter - This provides limited protection from the weather. This can be owned by either the

controlling agency or a private company. In some cases they can be owned by a local government. • Information Sign - This usually provides a limited amount of information regarding when the buses

serving this stop are supposed to arrive. This may include a map of the transit system.• News Rack • Telephone • Ash Tray or Can • Street Pad - This is usually a reinforced concrete section of pavement designed to minimize the

damage to the street caused by the buses.• Duck Out - This is an area cut into the sidewalk that allows the bus to get out of the lane of traffic.

At some transit centres these are in the form of saw-toothed bays which allow more buses to be parked in the same space in comparison to flat curb.

• Bump Out - This is a section of the adjacent sidewalk that has been expanded into the street to allow the bus to stop without having to pull out of traffic. This is often done to allow automobile parking along the curb.

• Bike Racks • Drinking Fountains• Tactile Signage - Putting tactile signs, Braille and raised letters, is an aide to the visually impaired.• Clocks

A good bus stop

• Accessibility: The stop must be accessible to the passengers, whether they are disabled or not. If you can't get to the stop, or can't board the bus from the stop it might as well not exist.

• Passenger Facilities: The stop should have the appropriate facilities for the passengers. These include such things as Benches, Information Signs, Shelters, and Garbage Cans. Not every stop has to have these, but they do help.

• Visibility: Stops should be visible to the driver of the bus. If it is not, the passengers are likely to be bypassed. This also includes not only the sign being visible, but the passenger being visible. At night, this can include the need for lighting. Passengers get passed by occasionally due to not being visible to the driver.

• Convenience: The stop should be placed in a location that makes it convenient for the passengers origin or destination. Having to walk too far to get either to or from the stop discourages the passengers.

• Spacing: The distance between stops also helps or hurts stops. Placing stops too far apart makes them inconvenient to use. Placing them too close together can make the drivers and passengers irritated by having the bus stop too often.

• Safety: Stops have to be safe for both the passenger and the bus that has to stop there.• Width of sidewalk: The sidewalk must be wide enough for the passengers using wheelchairs to

be able to get onto the lift or ramp to board the bus. There also needs to be enough room for people to easily move around the stop.

• Length of Sidewalk: Since many buses have lifts located in the rear door, the area of the stop should be long enough for the bus to deploy a lift from either the front or rear door.

• Lack of Obstructions: The stop should not have a lot of obstructions that get in the way.• Access to Stop: The passengers must be able to get to the stop. • Level Sidewalk: To best deploy a lift or ramp, the stops should be level.

Converted bus stop: Bird watch- Tjeldsoe, Norway

Bus stop chained to the ground- Scott Station, Antarctica

Depressing bus stop…- Russia

Air conditioned bus stop- Dubai

Bucket from an excavator- Kirkenes, Norway

Bus stop as IKEA ad- Istanbul, Turkey

The ‘Adaptable’ Bus Stop - for the 2008 World Expo in Zaragoza, Spain

• by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• ‘ever-changing’ internet enabled urban shelter

• allows passengers to plan their ideal routes by interacting with the community via the web

• sends wireless internet signals to a neighbouring bus stops

• creating a wireless mesh network across the city

• each bus equipped with a GPS transmitter

• sends real-time location information

• touch-sensitive map

• travellers press a destination and receive advice about the shortest travel route

• parameters that are unique to the location are put into the computer program

• the program generates a structural blueprint for the ‘ideal’ shelter with the required roof and bench size and correct orientation according to the position(s) of the sun

Each bus shelter concept is a focused look at a specific issue:

Bloom: Weather changes. Shelters should too. Bloom smartly uses electro-active polymer technology to adapt it's canopy to current rainfall and also displays annual precipitation levels in it's transparent stalk.

Bend: Awkward conversations at the bus stop are over. Patrons smile as their combined weight acts to close the shelter overhead.

Mod: Creating a modular system that can be updated according to use patterns is essential in a money starved public budget. Mod even provides distinct sections for types of individuals: the loner, the socialite, and the info-geek all get their space.

Time Square: The most obvious issue with mass transit is schedule and timing. How do you know if your bus is late or if you just missed it? Time Square uses kinetic colour technology to communicate the proximity of the next bus.

http://www.fioriinc.com/fiori/press/releases/040206_bus_stop/index.html

The Bus Stops Here – by Fiori (design, strategy and research firm)

…what is a bus stop?