Integrating Sustainability into Bus Shelter Design

Bus stations provide an open platform for layering multiple sustainable technologies in a single location. Installing photovoltaic panels on top of bus shelter canopies is one of the most common practices of sustainable bus shelter design. Some cities are also beginning to explore the possibility of using bus shelters to capture and manage storm water.

Solar-powered bus shelter in San Francisco

San Francisco is in the process of rolling out 1,100 new bus shelters that use roof top solar panels to run lights and power an on-site wifi network, which has the potential to provide significant coverage when expanded citywide. The creative repurposing of bus shelters as a platform for advancing environmental and social sustainability goals holds tremendous promise and is an area that is likely to see further innovation, particularly as bus rapid transit lines like the Orange Line (and future Wilshire Line) continue to attract riders.

Solar panels on bus shelter canopy in San Francisco

To understand the potential for leveraging bus shelters as a way to advance sustainability in Los Angeles, consider that Metro operates 15,967 bus stops throughout its service area. If the transit authority built bus shelters similar to those being used in Corona, which use roof top solar panels to feed 1,748 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year into the grid, it could generate roughly 27,910,316 kWh per year of energy. That's enough energy to power approximately 4,560 homes.

15,967 bus stops x 1,748kWh/bus stop = 27,910,316 kWh
27,910,316 kWh/6,120 kWh per LADWP res. customer = 4,560 households

With nearly sixteen-thousand bus stops in the Metro system, there's a tremendous opportunity to use these sites for producing renewable energy, showcasing local artists and providing other socially valuable services like wifi or way-finding information. Given DWP's target for renewable energy production (35% by 2030), the demand for renewable energy in Los Angeles is high and as local capacity for renewable energy production increases, there is less need for running expensive high powered transmission lines through sensitive environmental habitat.

Clearly Los Angeles could be doing more to deploy its own contextually sensitive design for sustainable bus shelters and leverage such a program to advance additional co-benefits for the region: "green" its transportation system, decrease carbon dioxide emissions, reduce storm water runoff, create jobs for the manufacturing and installation of new sustainable bus shelters, expand free wifi coverage, showcase local arts and culture, and enhance the dissemination of important public information.

Sources:

- Renewable Energy World, "City of Corona Turns Bus Shelter into Mini Power Plant"

- Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)

- LADWP Green Power Annual Report 2009

Mapping America

The New York Times complied data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009, and made it available through a fascinating interactive map, searchable by city or zip code. Search for your city or community here.

The America Community Survey is an ongoing survey, different from the decennial census that attempts to count everyone in America, that generates data every year through a statistically significant sample of the population. The data is used frequently by urban planners to plan investments, infrastructure and sustainable community strategies.

Here are two accompanying articles from the NY Times about the transition of immigrants to suburbia and the changing demographic composition of the New York City metropolitan region.

Next CicLAvia - April 10, 2011

The route will be largely the same - 7.5 miles traveling through East Hollywood, MacArthur Park, Downtown, Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights. Stay tuned for more details and be sure to check CicLAvia's website for additional information and updates.