Centro Bus Shelters

[CL]

I'm guessing this design means they just clip in small bits of hard vinyl with route numbers on, that way it's easier to change them when routes change, rather than printing off a whole new vinyl to stick over the whole flag.

I see. I suppose that makes sense - under closer inspection... Though, mind you, the flag seems a bit thick.

There is two on the 87 route towards oldbury

@RS I'm assuming you mean something like this?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4676655,-1.9285705,3a,15.2y,103.23h,85.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGpB-mZx69kaUxMa8so7mCg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

There's plenty of these dotted around the Midlands, this one is on Westbourne Road, where the Harbornes serve. There's another on War Lane, and Hagley Road - not too far from Bearwood Interchange... But they are different to the ones seen in the photos above.

[2900]

Removing the front from bus shelters from a drivers point is excellent  for alighting passengers especially those with pushchairs and wheelchairs there's so much more room it's makes boarding and alighting much faster , if you look at most raised castle kerbs the shelter  obstructs most it so your only able to use the sides if at all. Bring it on rip all the fronts off shelters or redesign them so the whole raised section can be utilised. Quite a few have been done on the Dudley rd corridor, the number of times I,ve witnessed people getting  into heated arguements at these often overcrowded shelters is unreal, people don't like to be penned into a small space. As for people getting wet well that's life you can't have it all.

[Bryan]

Removing the front from bus shelters from a drivers point is excellent  for alighting passengers especially those with pushchairs and wheelchairs there's so much more room it's makes boarding and alighting much faster , if you look at most raised castle kerbs the shelter  obstructs most it so your only able to use the sides if at all. Bring it on rip all the fronts off shelters or redesign them so the whole raised section can be utilised. Quite a few have been done on the Dudley rd corridor, the number of times I,ve witnessed people getting  into heated arguements at these often overcrowded shelters is unreal, people don't like to be penned into a small space. As for people getting wet well that's life you can't have it all.

Removing the front may well make more room, but it is not necessarily better for potential passengers.  Imagine a cold day with a biting wind waiting for a bus, not a great encouragement to use buses.

As for people getting into arguments, that appears to be a sad reflection on life these days of people who only think of themselves. Yesterday I witnessed two people, perhaps 10 minutes apart on one bus who asked to be seated , because the passengers had chosen to put their bag beside them and seemed reluctant to let others use it!!!!

[paulb1973]

Removing the front from bus shelters from a drivers point is excellent  for alighting passengers especially those with pushchairs and wheelchairs there's so much more room it's makes boarding and alighting much faster , if you look at most raised castle kerbs the shelter  obstructs most it so your only able to use the sides if at all. Bring it on rip all the fronts off shelters or redesign them so the whole raised section can be utilised. Quite a few have been done on the Dudley rd corridor, the number of times I,ve witnessed people getting  into heated arguements at these often overcrowded shelters is unreal, people don't like to be penned into a small space. As for people getting wet well that's life you can't have it all.

Exactly. The shelters still have a roof on them - they do still provide some form of shelter! The original 'Adshel' advertising shelters that appeared in the 70's in London and eventually in other cities were ideal - they formed an L shape (or in many cases an upside down L) fitted with two-sided advert panels and a large glass or Perspex side to sit against/stand behind. An updated but similar design appeared in the late 80's & early 90's - today, that general design has stayed broadly the same. Quite a few of these existed in the West Midlands up and until the early and mid 2000's.

Centro decided to introduce its own design/s (the Primeline shelters and other types) forcing Clear Channel Adshel to remove its own shelters (although that company won a 10-year contract to 'attach' adverts on the Centro shelters where suitable from July 2004 - in fact this contract has been extended by another 2 years). The Primeline design had actually appeared well before 2004 and came in various lengths and sizes, the majority still exist today, with some changes and replacements now taking place.

A lot of this came about because Centro wanted a bus shelter with a wider pitch, which they got, but strangely enough some have ended up being removed. It would have been easier to just have given Adshel the entire contract for the 5000+ shelters in the West Mids and let them get on with it. They offered both ad and non-ad types. 

[Stu]

The photos I promised!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62291103@N08/20843579692/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62291103@N08/20826878956/in/dateposted-public/

Don't see anyone else has noticed, but a few more of these have been installed along the Warwick Road, between Stratford Road and Golden Hillock Road, as well as at the Manor Farm Road stop (towards Solihull, hidden inside a tree, you would have thought they would have trimmed the tree!).

Most of these have had the 37 route number applied to them, and most appear to be displaying RTI, however the Boscombe Road one (in Matt.N0056's pics) still has no route number and is non-functional.

[CL]

Don't see anyone else has noticed, but a few more of these have been installed along the Warwick Road, between Stratford Road and Golden Hillock Road, as well as at the Manor Farm Road stop (towards Solihull, hidden inside a tree, you would have thought they would have trimmed the tree!).

Most of these have had the 37 route number applied to them, and most appear to be displaying RTI, however the Boscombe Road one (in Matt.N0056's pics) still has no route number and is non-functional.

I haven't noticed. However I did notice that Five Ways (outside the *former* Tesco) has two new grey/orange shelters... They must have been put in this morning/last night - as the blue/orange shelters were still in place yesterday, as far as I'm aware.