I started this discussion on mastodon, but want to here too. If you could create the perfect bus stop, what would it have? Here are some of my ideas:
⛑ Safety:
- Shelters: no advertisements blocking views. Enclosed shelters must have 2+ exit points.
- Solar lights
♿ Accessibility:
- A space in shelters for wheelchairs.
- Marked wide paved section for wheelchairs & those with mobility difficulties to board a ramp onto the bus.
- Braille on bus stop signs & tactile pavement.
🚲Other:
- Bike racks
- Vending Machines
- Public water fountain
- Tiny library
Do you have more ideas?
Edit: realized the photo i added is ai, but i can’t seem to get rid of it so 🤷♀️
Yes, for several years, and only because I had no other options. Once I got a drivers license I bought a car & first switched from bus-train-bus to car-train-bus (saving roughly a half an hour daily), but after they put high parking fees on the commuter parking I ditched public transit altogether (slightly more expensive even after accounting for the fee but cut my commute by another hour daily).
With that said, it’s simply not feasible in many areas to up the service. Personally, I think the way to go in these cases is focusing on the denser areas at first, ensuring that the service is great and enable interoperability with personal transportation such as cars and bikes so that people can enjoy the best of both worlds.