Recently we had a Citybench installed at 25th St and 8th Ave bus stop.
Older adults sit on it as they wait for a bus and really appreciate it's being there. Many people would have preferred a bus shelter there , but it ain't gonna happen for several reasons .
- Lack of room
A bus shelter takes a certain minimum amount of space
and that space is not available at this site .Community board 4 had asked for over 50 bus shelters in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen all were turned down due space issues and we suspect hidden issues.
-Cost
In 2005 NYC signed a contract with Cemusa to install 3200 bus shelters in NYC. In 2013 an additional 200 shelters were installed. We now have somewhere's around 3500 bus shelters.
3500 bus shelters may seem to be a large figure but it's not because there are over 15,000 bus stops in NYC. That means over 10,000 bus stops have no shelter.
Now if Cemusa could sell enough advertising to populate 15,000 bus shelters then I suspect we'd have 15,000 as we don't have 15,000 I think there is simply not enough advertising to support this number.
NYC has a bus shelter monoculture. Only one bus shelter model that it installs the Cenusa shelter, that comes in several different lengths and widths.. I don't know the actual cost but having looked at a number of shelters I'd say a minimal figure is $30,000.At that figure 10,000 shelters would cost $300,000,000 (that's three hundred MILLION dollars) . If we add maintenance costs to the shelters it's a lot more.
The Cemusa shelter is tightly couples. All elements (seating, wind and rain protection) reside in one package that takes up a lot of room. and will not fit at anty of the 52 locations we requested them at.
Alternative bus shelters to the Cemusa bus shelter
I know our contract with cemusa does not preclude pplacing benches at bus stiops, but Does our contract with Cemusa preclude the installation of any other bus shelters at our bus stops? I don't know but even if it didn't installing shelters at all our stops would still cost a great deal. A enclosed shelter that cost just $10,000 installed would still cost $100,000,000 to cover all bus stops and this figure does not cover the need to clean the shelters on a regular basis.
Is it possible to create a bus shelter that has a near zero footprint and costs a minimal amount?
The answer to this question is yes.
Near Zero Footprint
Here's a bus shelter design that is being used in santa Monica California that has a near zero ground level footprint.
link
One of the great things about this design is it's modular. In a location with little room. a Single module has a very small ground level footprint, while offering both seating and rain protection. And unlike traditional bus shelters which are a one piece retungular object the iifferent parts of a San Diego shelter can be mixed and matched and do not even have to physically connect.
link
(picture ) show pictures...
Because of the NYC subweay this sportlike many on 7th ave could not support a Cemusa shelter. It could support a Santa Monica style shelter.
There'sseating and rain protection in the santa monica shelter but no wind protection.. The west side is getting a new 12th avenue bus line. It's very windy near the river, so you would not place one of these there. However inland where days that are both rainy AND windy are rare they will protect MOST of the time. Now given that 10,000 bus stops offer no shelter at all, and that implementing a design that protects peiople in all 10,000 stops under all conditions all of the time ain't gonna happen. A design that protecta all of them under most conditions all of the time is a pretty good deal.
low cost?
Ten thousand shelters of the Santa Monica design will still cost big bucks. Is it possible to implement a similar design at a fraction of the cost? yes. by piggybacking on existing infrastructure?
Bus stops have poles with information for riders.
By adding San Diego style umbrellas to them we don't have to put in new poles to create a single module bus shelter umbrella. In Raleigh, NC this was added to a bus stop pole.
link
The raligh awning is not solid, here's an example of one that is that was installed on a pole byour own 34th Street Partnership,( the origibnators of DOT's Citybench)
santa Monic styler Citclers could just as well be added to these poles.
! ! ! !
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(show block where multiple poles can all get umbrellas attached)
__ __ __ __
! ! ! !
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Modular Toolbox
Currently NYC offers one bus shelterdesign and one bench design for all bus stops. Both of these are one design fits all solutions. To offer shelter and seating at all 10,000 stops with we need a selecctions of designs with different foot prints and costs
\, so that no longer will people be told "it don't fit" and the city can afford to do all.
Wwhat's needed is Multiple solutions athat can be mixed and match together
As I stated before we have 10,000 bus stops without shelters To put standard shelters in all 10,000 bus stops is way too expensive and in many cases there's not enough room. By creating a toolbox of many low cost modular designs that piggyback on existing infrastructure we can do this.
Here's several more possible designs that could be part of the toolbox
Citybench seating Module
We have citybenches at some of our bus stops. They are the first module that would be in this toolkit
Wind
How does wind flow in an urban street canyon? I susoect it will
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_review/western_rail/appendix_k.pdf
Windshields
The branding banners that BIDS put up have no function other then orenementation
What about some "windshield banners at bus stops"
Combined zero footprint windshield
seating, rain, wind
http://www.callforentry.org/fair_plans/1150.pdf
Tree Pit Seating Module
A Cemusa bus shelter cannot go wthin 5 feet of a tree pit A citybench cannot go wthin 3 feet of a tree pit . At bus stops The Myrtle Ave BID the myrtle avenue tree pit guard is the bench allowing for placement in spaces where no Cemusa shelter or citybench would be allowed. .. By turning the treepit into the seating we essentially create a near zero footprint seating. module.
link
The folks at Softwalks can up with a great idea to dual purpose sidewalk sheds by adding seating to them
many fire hydrants have
By attatching seats to these poles we once again piggybacxk on existing infrastructure, to create a low cost, seat that only minimally adds another piece of frrniture to a sidewalk.
