Is it time to get more creative with our bus stops?

08 December 2015

There’s been a lot of talk about making train stations destinations in their own right for passengers, but what about the bus stop?

Saw this in the Guardian – a roundup of pics from former Soviet countries where architects were encouraged to design stops that ‘reflected the local community and acted as the face of the area’. Photographer Christopher Herwig noticed the impossible structures on his travels through Eastern Europe and started documenting them. Compared to them our practical stops seem dull and unimaginative.

Georgian sculptor and architect Zurab Tsereteli said:

“I suggested that these bus stops shouldn’t be about just a frame, glass and seating. People should get pleasure out of them. We decided they should be monumental art in space.”

But it’s also important not to forget the practicalities. Tsereteli also said of one of his stops:

“I cannot say why there is no roof. It’s their problem. I, as an artist, do everything artistically.”

I don’t think passengers would swap shelter from all weather for an interesting looking structure no matter how fancy it looked. Maybe a balance is needed between the two.

Or maybe this commenter hits the nail on the head: