A National Bus Stop Standard
Millions of people use bus stops every day. But in many places, bus stops lack seating and shelter, timetables and other information. This makes catching the bus unappealing, and more difficult than it should be.
We recently travelled around England and Wales by bus, asking passengers for their ‘Bus Stop Stories’. Time and again, people said how important clear information, safe shelters and comfortable waiting areas are.
Where I live, the bus stop is just a stand. When you have rain or snow, there’s no shelter at all. You should have proper signage, to say where the buses go and what time. It would be nice if you could also have a board to say the bus is coming in how many minutes – Maureen, bus user.
With millions of us travelling by bus every day, bus stops play a vital role in our lives and communities. But, as our research has found, bus stops have been neglected for far too long. Our report, Better Bus Stops: creating a national bus stop standard, found that whilst 86 per cent of people live within a ten-minute walk of their nearest bus stop, almost a quarter (23 per cent) are put off using the bus because of poorly maintained bus shelters.
- Only half of survey respondents said their nearest bus stop has a shelter
- Just 16 per cent have up-to-date maps of routes in the area
- Only 31 per cent have an up-to-date timetable
- Just 16 per cent have access to live updates about bus arrivals.
Yet simple improvements – like an up-to-date legible timetable – would encourage people to travel by bus more frequently with more than half (52 per cent) of people saying they would use buses more if they had better information at bus stops.
The Government welcomed our report and committed to delivering statutory guidance for local authorities on the design and maintenance of bus stops in the Bus Services Act. To have a real impact, this guidance must act as a robust and comprehensive National Bus Stop Standard, and it must prioritise accessibility, safety, comfort and up-to-date information.
With the Government overseeing the biggest reform to bus services in a generation, it’s time to make bus stops better!
You can watch all our Bus Stop Stories on Facebook or Instagram, or read about them in this blog.
