Did you know it’s theoretically possible that someday all our city buses will be flying buses? That’s true. But what about the drab, unremarkable bus shelters that line our local streets, you ask — will we still have to use those boring things? Maybe not! We looked into cool, cutting edge concepts in bus stops to see what lies ahead. If our research proves accurate, the future looks very exciting. Some bus shelters will have vegetative roofs. Others will be beautiful and expensive to build yet cost cities $0 each. Still others will look like something you might see after your second ayahuasca cocktail. And all this creativity stands in service of the laudable goal of making public transportation more appealing. The future is now, amigos. Get on board.
Florence’s “iPhone of Bus Stops”
The punsters at the SENSEable City design lab up in Cambridge have named their smarter-than-you’ll-ever be interactive bus shelter the “EyeStop” (nudge, nudge).
The sleek structure allows you to do the sort of exciting and useful things you might do on an iPhone, but without an iPhone and while you’re waiting for the bus. So, for instance, you might browse the web (keep it clean, kids!) or plot your journey. But the EyeStop also allows you to monitor your exposure to airborne pollutants, watch in real time as the 73 Express sits motionless in a traffic jam, and post an electronic notice about your beloved tabby that just ran away.
Mind you, this is not a science fiction bus stop — a prototype has already been installed in Florence, Italy. (More here.)
