On a wet and windy day like today the bus stop on Fanshawe St next to Victoria Park is not a nice place to be waiting for a bus. AT have said they plan on building a proper busway along Fanshawe St and that should include a proper station rather than just a few measly shelters.
Photo is credited to oh.yes.melbourne
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Skypath would be fun on a wet and windy day
Not sure if sarcastic…..
Isn’t it fully covered?
I rode to work all winter last year, 13+ks and didn’t worry about the weather, you work around it when you have chosen to cycle.
Lets hope the structural engineer does a good job. The bridge had to be shut because it was moving around too much in the last storm as it is, having a covered walkway as planned is adding a significant wind loading to the existing structure. From what I have seen so far, the structural strengthening costs seem to be underestimated.
Not saying I don’t agree with the proposal, just believe they have underestimated the cost and work required to make it work.
In the one evening in every ~3,000 that we have 170kmh winds I guess we could accept closing the bridge.
If these are scrapped can we get them installed in pilkington and tripoli roads. Currently we cower under trees. Why do some main roads get bus shelters while others get none? I’d rather everyone gets a mini before we start splashing out on rolls royces. And yes, I’m shamelessly parochial about my area because I find that nobody else is.
The busway upgrade on Fanshawe Street isn’t a “Rolls Royce” it’s simply a reflection of the massive numbers of people and buses passing through here on the Northern Busway and the growing number of businesses and shops in Wynyard. It’s actually long overdue. It’s not a zero sum game, getting getter facilities here can only help boost patronage which is helpful for getting better bus facilities all over the city.
Let’s hope the new design includes some bicycle parking. There are often bikes left at this bus stop (as can be seen in the photo in fact).
+1
I leave my bike chained down there (clear of the pedestrian footpath and waiting areas naturally) on a daily basis along with around 3-4 other regular users. There is definitely latent demand for bike parking. Mind you, with Skypath that may change somewhat.
Nice project, but not as good visuals. 3 bus station side by side, not nice. Although beautiful designs. Will keep people on rainy days.
Unclear what you mean, the image depicts the current situation not what will be built. The planned interchange should be along the lines of what is seen on the Northern Busway itself.
Useless bus “shelters” which offer no shelter.
Those shelters are OH for vertical rain. But for horizontal rain – i.e. the sort we usually get round our way – those “shelters” are more like shower-cubicles.
There have been days when bus passengers (including myself) have had to shelter behind these bus shelters. Makes it fun trying to see the bus destination signs.
Those things really are just billboards with seating attached. They’re of minimal use against the elements. I’ve actually had to put an umbrella up inside one of them to shield myself from the rain that was coming through the space between the advert and the roof.
Just useless. I’m glad they’re on the way out.
Actually, while we’re on the subject of ineffective shelter: The canopies at Kingsland station are simply dreadful against anything but sunlight
The current situation is woefully inadequate and the Fonterra head office is not too far away.
Something is needed here and fast. It has really become a main stop. There are loads of people waiting in the pm peak, so many that pedestrians walking along the footpath struggle to get through everyday! For those taking the bus it’s also a game of roulette besides the dodging the weather, as there are no predetrmined stops for particular services so you could be waiting at the northern most part of the stop (ie towards St Mary’s Bay) but if your bus is behind several others you may have to run quickly (remember there are masses of people waiting in your way on the footpath at the same time) the other way to get onboard your bus in time, unlike Symonds St where particular routes stop at a particular bus stop. The faster a main station that resolves all these things is built the better for all concerned, both bus passengers and pedestrians using the same narrow footpath.
It gets crazy between 5 and 6 some nights. As you say, narrow footpath and no predefined slots for buses.
So you get the Vict Park Shuffle; big bunch of people waiting on the West end, the NEX pulls up behind 2 other buses on the East end, and suddenly you have a surge of people pushing past other people boarding buses to jam into an overcrowded and overloaded NEX.
Solution on nice days at least is that people stand up higher on the bank so that they can see buse as they come (or go sailing past with a full load).
Getting people to use PT is only the first step – once they do, you have to improve the experience. Have seen AT people at the stop before, but not even small steps have been taken to make improvements over the years that it has got progressively worse.