New stops in Birmingham City Centre

[jnl1984]

I passed these over the weekend and think they look very smart - even smarter I imagine when they are working...

What are other people's opinions on these? and will new shelters be in place before Sunday?

[D10]

Agree that the black stop plates look very smart.

Shame about the shelters though, as I mentioned on another topic, not at all impressed by thse shelters, perhaps no one at Centro realised we get bad weather in this country sometimes!

[fleetline6477]

I doubt the shelters will be in place since I have had it on good authority today that there has been a problem with the contract and the contractors are still waiting to take delivery of them from the manufacturer. So, I think it is very doubtful that the shelters will be in place for Sunday. From the two I have seen, assuming this is the design for the others, they are not enclosed shelters in an attempt to stop people congregating in them which i thought was the whole point of a bus shelter.

[Nathan4775]

I was thinking that the Bus Stops Birmingham are Getting Look like the ones Manchester have got

[jnl1984]

Will all stops at all interchanges eventually be upgraded? or will it just be the 'flags' that get altered... example, priory queensway is obviously having new stops / shelters, where as, Colmore Row doesnt appear to be... can anyone confirm?

[vinh1000]

Shelters look better than the old one's though smaller look smarter :)

[Stu]

It's all still a work in progress, the work was never all going to be completed overnight.

The new bus stop totems do look very smart, but I do wonder how long it will be before they get vandalised!  ???

Also, the lack of a 'traditional' in-out shelter, does pose the problem of people congregating at a stop, and no orderly queue being able to form, thus a mass onslaught ensues once a bus arrives and people try to queue-jump and force themselves on-board. Not that that never happens at 'traditional' stops anyway!  ::)

[Gareth]

It's all still a work in progress, the work was never all going to be completed overnight.

The new bus stop totems do look very smart, but I do wonder how long it will be before they get vandalised!  ???

Also, the lack of a 'traditional' in-out shelter, does pose the problem of people congregating at a stop, and no orderly queue being able to form, thus a mass onslaught ensues once a bus arrives and people try to queue-jump and force themselves on-board. Not that that never happens at 'traditional' stops anyway!  ::)

The 66 stop on Priory Queensway already had graffiti on the sides yesterday afternoon

[jnl1984]

One thing i would say, when i first passed these poles, i thought that the service numbers on them was electronic because of the colour... obviously walking past, i note that they are not, but they are so difficult to see in the dark. I also found out last night about queue jumping and the potential trouble this would cause, this was at 11pm aswell, not rush hour!!!

[Isle of Stroma]

One thing i would say, when i first passed these poles, i thought that the service numbers on them was electronic because of the colour... obviously walking past, i note that they are not, but they are so difficult to see in the dark. I also found out last night about queue jumping and the potential trouble this would cause, this was at 11pm aswell, not rush hour!!!

Agreed about the new bus stands. I too first thought they may be led displays until i got closer to one. They do look impressive - until you look at one after dark, difficult to read & the timetables (white on black) virtually undecipherable (led displays - or even just backlit ones would have been useful here). The city stop maps again are completely useless after twilight. As for the new shelters themselves, totally contemptuous towards towards the public (considering it's rained for most of the last 4 months, anyone fancy trying to keep dry under one of these postage stamps? - & that's only if you're one of the lucky 4 first in the queue, the rest of you will get soaked regardless).

I must admit i was further unimpressed by Centro not having timetables available on the website (& the inability to access the 'connected city' route maps on mobile 'phones etc), instead being redirected to the Traveline site - which would have been fine if Traveline had the full set of timetables....

By the way, once the NXWM inspectors had disappeared by 7pm, I lost count of the number of times i was asked where bus number xx left from etc. Fine if i could remember, but a fair few got redirected to the nearest unreadable map!

[John]

The 66 stop on Priory Queensway already had graffiti on the sides yesterday afternoon

That has been there before the stop changes, when the stop had no window in and red tape was stuck all on it!

[Ash]

It's all still a work in progress, the work was never all going to be completed overnight.

The new bus stop totems do look very smart, but I do wonder how long it will be before they get vandalised!  ???

Also, the lack of a 'traditional' in-out shelter, does pose the problem of people congregating at a stop, and no orderly queue being able to form, thus a mass onslaught ensues once a bus arrives and people try to queue-jump and force themselves on-board. Not that that never happens at 'traditional' stops anyway!  ::)

I was on the 902 today and it pulled into the new stop by the weatherspoons on the corner and there was a crowd of people standing by the pole that just all rushed for the bus it was like a group of people formed in a long rectangle no order what so ever.

[Nathan4775]

I think that this New City Centre Interchanges are really good  ;D

[D10]

When you consider the high standard of Bus Stations operated by Centro with excellent undercover stands and easy to read electronic displays, it does seem strange that with Birmingham they seem to have gone the other way totally...