When A Bus Shelter Is No Shelter
@arthurchappell (44941)
Preston, England
March 1, 2018 2:51am CST
Bus shelters are often useless here. Even when we have shelters, and not just a bus stop that is easily missed by some drivers, the shelter is often just one wall and a short roof, which rain, wind and snow blasts round from all sides. Many shelters have no seats, and vandals smash any windows that might give at least some wind-break.
Some bus services refuse to share the same shelter as other buses even run by the same company. The 23 service from Preston to Fulwood has its own seperate stops and shelters in the city centre, a few yards apart from other Preston Bus company services. It's as if it won't associate with the commoners. A few passengers have missed buses by standing at the wrong stop.
Not all bus stops with shelters add bus timetables and the timetables often deserve awards for the best literary fiction of the year. In heavy snow passengers seriously wonder if they'll get hypothermia before the bus turns up. Dreadful
Arthur Chappell
12 people like this
12 responses
@Jackalyn (7558)
• Oxford, England
1 Mar 18
I know what you mean. Then there are the bus stops in the middle of nowhere with no shelter and no timetable. Near me we have defunct bus stops but no indication they do not actually have buses stopping at them. These have pretty good shelters where you can actually keep dry. The other think is when the bus shelter has no seat. Then there are the people who use bus shelters. My pet hate is arriving to find a load of teens taking up the entire shelter so nobody else can sit down on what is more of a perch than a seat. I have a habit of asking them to move up. They always look shocked. Right now though. I am not going near any shelters at all as it is properly snowing.
4 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
1 Mar 18
@Jackalyn yes, kids seem to just loiter round the shelters. I don't want to go out in the snow but unfortunately I have to shortly
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
1 Mar 18
@Jackalyn my mum's cat seems to like rolling about in the snow
@Jackalyn (7558)
• Oxford, England
1 Mar 18
@arthurchappell I will have to go and get cat food if the cat comes home. I think it decamped next door and got stuck because going out means its paws have to go into all that nasty white stuff. I guess, unless my neighbor feeds her, which is quite OK, she will turn up here when hunger calls.
2 people like this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
2 Mar 18
In my town we have a really old bus shelter made of bricks. It's very sturdy and dry, but not warm because it is open to the elements on one side. We used to have the problem of young people sitting in it at night, using it as a toilet and smothering it in graffiti, but then some groups got together and painted murals on it. Now the youngsters seem to respect the artwork {WWI based} and simply sit in it.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
1 Mar 18
@Madshadi here there is no excuse for it with many bus stop shelters
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43591)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Mar 18
Yeah, on bad weather days, the Colorado Springs bus shelters are marginally helpful at best. Most of the time you might as well just be standing at an unsheltered bench.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
9 Mar 18
@teamfreak16 yes you often might as well stand in the street with no effort to shelter
1 person likes this
@MaciMaci (300)
• France
2 Mar 18
I can't complain about the bus shelters in France, they are spacious enough and provide decent protection from both rain and wind.
The bus service is a different matter... At the slightest sign of snow, services are cancelled! Good luck hiking to work! Lol
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
2 Mar 18
we get a lot of cancellations too
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
2 Mar 18
@MaciMaci most frequently a surprise
1 person likes this
@MaciMaci (300)
• France
2 Mar 18
@arthurchappell Do they warn you in advance or is it "surprise, surprise!" once you get to the bus stop?
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
2 Mar 18
most of ours have no seat.'cause god forbid a homeless person might want to sit for a moment.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
2 Mar 18
@scarlet_woman I agree - the homeless need such opportunities to rest
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
1 Mar 18
@Fleura especially if you know the bus could be 20 minutes or more away
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
2 Mar 18
@Kandae11 yes, they need them and often new homeless people, often runaways, come into towns at the bus stations and main stops so the established homeless can be on hand to help them there
1 person likes this
@Courage7 (19626)
• United States
1 Mar 18
Oh dear what a state..terrible Arthur.
Yes I know what you mean..here the stops are supposed to be sheltered and yet the weather beats the life out of people..no shelter at all.
And then in your case there people standing at the wrong stops confusing..terrible.
1 person likes this
