Posts about Bus Shelters

The fundamental problem is that quality bus shelters are not cheap. Standard shelters cost approximately $7,000, and a lighted shelter with an electrical connection can run $60,000 or more. Compliance with the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act can have the perverse effect of pricing improvements out of reach. Sometimes, compliance is physically impossible as many bus stop sites lack the required space for improvements that are ADA-compliant. In a bind, governments often opt to provide no seating at all.

Comfortable seats on the cheap

A solution to this seating problem has emerged at 10 bus stops along major thoroughfares in Arlington and Falls Church. A local resident and his helpers have been adding simple, comfortable chairs to previously bare bus stops. Taking photos, they have documented the use of these seats over time, confirming a latent need for dignified seating at the region's bus stops.

These guerrilla do-gooders scavenged on trash nights for durable and comfortable plastic lawn chairs. They modified the chairs with a drill to include holes in the seat for improved rain drainage, and a leg mounting point for a security chain.

Based on the number of bus riders they observed waiting and the availability of suitable space on the sidewalk or grass strip, this cadre identified optimal locations for the ad-hoc seating.

With used bike chains (also scavenged) and a chain tool, they secured chairs to bus stop poles within the public right of way, largely safe from tampering or vandalism.

Searching for "appropriate technology"

Ironically, in our industrialized, high-tech nation, these locals have followed an approach that harkens to strategies applied in developing countries. The principle of "appropriate technology" is characterized by grassroots, sustainable, lower-cost, lower-tech solutions to basic human needs—technology such as these chairs.

Still, Americans may yet find applications for the same lower-cost, lower-tech principles. Decades of underinvestment in public space and infrastructure have left a backlog of needs. Inflexible regulations and funding mechanisms sometimes discourage immediate solutions in favor of waiting for rare moments when large infrastructure investments can be made at once.

At a time when many House Republicans urge an end to all federal support of transit, it's unlikely we'll see large infusions of funds to support this old strategy. Our governments and our communities need to start making small, incremental improvements, with more appropriate technologies that can be adequately maintained.

Saving on seating

For many older riders, or those with disabilities, standing can be a significant enough imposition to drive them away from using the bus. If bus stops are more comfortable to wait at, some of these neighbors might be able to use convenient buses more often, and others might be able to choose buses over more costly paratransit vans.

Arlington has already begun an "adopt-a-stop" program to maintain public bus stops. Perhaps other residents there (or elsewhere) will be inspired to provide the low-cost "appropriate technology" seating solutions that government currently cannot.

After all, in just a few months, a group of engaged residents was able to provide a public accommodation useful to hundreds of people. All it cost them was their time and a few dollars of gas money.

Tip: Veronica Davis. GOOD LA writes,

Kim thinks that creating better environments for transit riders is certainly a missed opportunity for the city. "People wait for a while at these stops, 15 to 20 minutes," she says. "This is an opportunity for the city to engage them." Included in her growing ideas of creating "surreal, out-of-place" situations, is the idea of building exercise equipment at stops, so people could squeeze a few pull-ups in.

Sadly, she's got her work cut out for her, since most corners in L.A. offer the same ugly, uncomfortable bus benches, and not much else. "Many neighborhoods in L.A. still lack built features that stimulate the senses and elicit interest at pedestrian scale," she says. "Perhaps the coffee table filled that role momentarily."

Overvecht station in Utrecht. Image via The Pop-Up City.

A Utrecht station installed a slide, which they call a "transfer accelerator," at a train station. Previously, Volkswagen had done the same, but more temporarily, in Berlin.

The MTA told Gothamist they're pretty sure New Yorkers won't be getting anything like this. Does any US city do more creative things with its public spaces beyond the rare creative bus stop? Can we ever surmount the risk of theft and fear of liability to make public spaces and transit facilities a little more engaging and enjoyable?

• Studying the conversion of the curbside lane in both directions on Georgia Avenue around Howard University into dedicated bus lanes, combined with tougher enforcement and penalties for violating motorists.

• Giving buses passive traffic signal priority on many routes.

Ricks described frequent complaints DDOT gets from drivers who see Pennsylvania Avenue's bike lanes largely empty while traffic clogs the other lanes. She admonished cycling advocates to work just as strongly to defend (and encourage use of) existing bike lanes as in calling for new ones.

Ricks also outlined the three laudable policy objectives that guide DDOT:

1. To make walking the mode of choice for trips of 1 mile or less, and biking the mode of choice for trips under 3 miles. A short-term goal is to have 12% of commuting trips done by bicycle by 2020 (the number is currently only 3%, though this does not include recreational and infrequent cyclists).

2. To prioritize transit expansion and enhancement, making transit competitive with driving in terms of travel time, cost, convenience and reliability.

3. To minimize traffic congestion and promote efficient vehicle operations.

At the same forum, WMATA Bus Planning Director Jim Hamre pointed to the popularity of express routes such as the 79, which has been extended to all-day running from 6 am to 7 pm to keep up with demand, as a reason to explore more such opportunities. He said overall trip times on the 70s line have been cut by 25% on average.

Hamre explains ridership patterns. Photo by Andrew Bossi on Flickr.

• The December introduction of an express X9 bus on the District's H Street-Benning Road corridor, connecting Capitol Heights to the heart of downtown.

• Replacing the 13A and 13B buses, looping between downtown DC and Crystal City, with extensions of the 17F and 17E to Federal Triangle.

• Restructuring Metrobus routes serving Greenbelt to better cover the community and improve reliability.

• Hiring a full staff of service managers, redefinition of the roles of existing managers, incorporation of better real-time data monitoring, and personality evaluations for new bus operators. Driver cameras in new buses are used in coaching operators on better navigating their routes and treating riders courteously.

In addition, WMATA is completing a study of the K6 (New Hampshire Avenue from Fort Totten to White Oak through Takoma Park and Langley Park), and will soon release recommendations, including to run limited-stop service from Fort Totten to Northwest Park.

Overall, Hamre said, more TIGER capital funding would be helpful in making speedier bus service a reality.

Ricks admitted that the need for speedier bus service on K Street NW is still a big issue that needs to be tackled, and expressed hope that the National Capital Planning Commission (which hosted the forum) might help in this.

As has oft been repeated here, your involvement in public decisionmaking—by attending forums, responding to surveys, writing letters, and commenting on GGW and other sites—is key. As Hamre summed it up, "We need rider engagement."

Over a dozen neighbors from all over Tenleytown worked together to open up paths and make walking safe and easy again, including Ben Nieva, Mike Sires, Steve Kelley, Athan Manuel, Angie Das, Hedda Garland, Felix Garland, Jenny McCarthy and Chris Frantz, as well as some whose names Neil might not have recorded.

That group focused on the street corners, which had become less passable with every visit by the plows. The delay of one day had allowed most owners and businesses to clear their sidewalks, but the hardening slush in the streets was still tripping people up. They even put down some salt and sand provided by the local Ace hardware store. The Current sent out a reporter, who also recorded an audio segment for WAMU.

Unfortunately, snow on many busy sidewalks had already condensed into packs of ice, preventing the group from clearing more. David and Rob were only able to clear about 60% of the sidewalk across Connecticut Avenue after two hours.

Many businesses and organizations also deserve attention for their lack of effort. In Tenleytown, Neisha Thai and several other establishments south of the Metro stood out. Circle Management left their construction site next to the Metro uncleared, while they or their tenants fulfilled the responsibility on the rest of their properties.

The Georgetown Day School shoveled its 42nd Street Sidewalks well enough, but its long stretch of sidewalk on River Road was left completely untouched. Finally, the National Park Service proved the worst offender, shoveling none of their many properties around Tenleytown. There are similar stories in neighborhoods all around the region.

But while other people let down their neighbors, it was reassuring to see so many people out on a snow day, helping each other out. Everyone came away knowing the others a little better as well.

Metro also plans to improve the schedule listings in the vertical information case on the poles. Today, the cases show a schedule for the entire route. If the bus stop is not one of the major points, then the schedule doesn't say at what time the bus is supposed to arrive, and riders have to interpolate between the nearest two points, assuming they know what these are. Instead, the new design shows only the times when a bus is supposed to show up at that particular stop. A horizontal bar along the bottom will list major destinations farther along the route, and the approximate number of minutes the bus takes to get there.

This is a huge improvement in many ways. At many bus stops, it's too easy to get confused about which buses go to a particular destination. A bus showing up with a final destination sign of "Southern Avenue" doesn't make this easier. That will still be a problem at some very low-ridership bus stops, since the standards recommend information cases for stops exceeding 50 boardings a day, but almost any stop which a casual rider or tourist will use in an area that's not just their own neighborhood should exceed this threshold.

The one change that RAC members suggested when they saw this last month was to modify the grid of times. The proposed design lists the times in a table, reading horizontally. But many members noted that riders could easily assume they are supposed to read downward, like a schedule, to see arrival times; coloring alternate columns in gray, as the design does, further reinforces this incorrect conclusion.

Metro should consider a visual design, like stem and leaf schedules, that has no visual cues promoting a false reading of the list. When we see a grid, we assume that items relate to those left and right as well as those above and below. But that's not the case here. The stem and leaf schedule, or other layouts with horizontal but not vertical continuity, would maximize usability of these schedules.

Finally, the standards recommend revising bus stop spacing to 4-5 per mile, as we discussed recently. Overall, Metro has done a nice job of improving the bus stops, and more importantly, has communicated their thoughts to the RAC, the Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Board, and others to hear input. Even if they don't make every choice I would, we know they won't overlook anything huge, the way the SmarTrip team did when designing the new SmartBenefits system.