Learn what goes into making a perfect bus stop here.

Anatomy of a Perfect Bus Stop

For many in the transit field, the bus stop is an afterthought. For them, it is merely a sign that indicates where people can board a bus. However, the bus stop sign is more than merely a simple sign: it is often the first, and usually the most frequent, interaction the public has with the brand and image of the transit system. Because of this, a great deal of care should go into designing a bus stop sign. Bus stop signs serve two major purposes: one, they serve as an advertisement for your system; and two, they provide information to passengers. Bus stop design should take into account both of these purposes.

Bus Stop as a Marketing Tool

What are the iconic symbols of American corporations; the ones where the merest part of the sign immediately conjectures images of the company as a whole? The McDonald's sign comes to mind, as well as Coca-Cola and other non-food brands like Shell gasoline. Before you dismiss these comparisons as not applicable, consider that transit systems such as the New York MTA, the London Underground, and even Santa Monica California's Big Blue Bus have built up their brand image enough to sell popular apparel and other goods out of company stores. You should strongly consider, if city sign regulations allow it, a distinctive bus stop sign either in color or in shape. The worst would be to have no unique sign at all and just rely on "No Parking Bus Stop" signs to identify bus stops to the public.

Bus Stop as Information Provider

While not every transit system will have the budget or legal right to install distinctive bus stop signs, every transit system needs to provide enough information on their signs so that both the frequent passenger as well as the newcomer can understand what kind of service will stop at that particular stop. The ideal bus stop sign will contain the following information:

1. The Routes that Serve the Stop: Especially essential for agencies that operate many routes along the same corridor, especially limited stop and express routes, listing the numbers of the routes that serve the stop should be viewed as an essential first step in informing the customer about what transit products you are offering.
2. The Destinations that Serve the Stop: Although offering the route numbers is helpful, offering the destinations as well as the route numbers is necessary to help people avoid waiting at the stop in the wrong direction. Merely informing a customer to wait for bus route X at intersection Y can at the worst subject the customer to a 50% chance of boarding the wrong bus, assuming that the intersection has bus stops for both directions of the routes, as most do. Knowledge of geographic landmarks at the stop may not always be available, and many people cannot tell direction enough to respond to an instruction to wait at the "southeast" corner. Providing the destination at the stop allows anybody to instruct the customer to wait at the "2 PCH - Trancas" stop instead of the "2 Downtown LA - Hill and Venice" stop, resulting in the customer boarding the right bus and being a happy customer.
3. The Phone Number of Customer Service: Providing the phone number of customer service and, increasingly, the website of the transit agency will allow customers that have questions that cannot be answered by information at the bus stop to easily obtain further information. If your agency does not have a call center or a website perhaps now is the time to set one up.
4. Schedule Information: It is often a good idea to place some kind of schedule information in an insert in a box that attaches to the pole of the bus stop sign, at least at busier stops. The schedule information should at the least have the first and last trip times of each route service the stop, as well as frequency information. A complete list of trip times for each route serving the stop is more effective, but requires more maintenance as every service change the schedule is changed the company's Stops and Zones department will have to be sent out to change the sign.
5. Next Bus Displays: Increasingly cities are installing computers at certain high volume bus stops which tell customers exactly when the next bus will arrive. Next stop displays work best with software that can predict real time arrivals, because displays that work with scheduled times only can end up irritating the customer by insisting a bus has arrived when it is in actuality several minutes late.
6. Map Information: The schedule box in number four above could also have a schematic map of the route, potentially including a "you are here" dot; the bus stop sign itself, as in the case in Chicago, could have a schematic map on it. A bus stop sign will generally not have enough space to provide either a complete system map or a local area map, but if the stop also contains a shelter the provision of such a map would significantly benefit the customers that board the bus there.
7. Bus Stop ID Number: The main benefit of providing the bus stop ID number on the bus stop sign would be in conjunction with an automated phone scheduling system where one could call a number, input the bus stop ID, and hear a recording of the next several buses that will stop at that stop. However, systems that do not have automated phone scheduling information can still benefit, as an exact bus stop ID number is useful in locating stops that are unsafe, unlighted, tagged, or other problems that customers can report to agency representatives.

Conclusion

A properly designed bus stop sign can do a great deal to promote the brand image of the transit system as well as provide a wealth of information to the customer. Studies have shown that improving the design of the sign can lead to increased patronage, all else being equal. While some of the aspects of a good bus stop sign require active maintenance, which could result in increased costs, I feel the tradeoff is worth it. I urge all transit systems to critically examine their bus stop signs to see if they meet all the criteria in this article.

The Pictures: the three pictures with the article are examples of bad, better, and outstanding transit stop signs. See if you can identify which one is which.