Image from Gothamist.
Gimme shelter, sang the Rolling Stones, and now New York City along with street furniture company Cemusa has obliged.
Alright, alright. Sorry for the cheesy lead. In all seriousness, yesterday, the City and Cemusa unveiled the first of what will be 3300 new bus shelters across the city. As you can see, these shelters are sleeker than the old ones and come equipped with whatever modern amenities one can cram into a bus station. As Gothamist notes, the bus shelters will feature the following:
- Each bus shelter will include bench seating. The bench is vandal-resistant and designed to prevent reclining.
- The bus shelters display the name of the bus stop in prominent letters that can be read by approaching passengers. An illuminated interior side panel will display customer service information such as bus route maps.
- The design of the bus shelter ensures meaningful protection from the elements. Specifically designed to prevent any blind spots, the bus shelter provides excellent visibility for added security.
- The components of each bus shelter are made from recyclable materials that are free from pollutants and will have minimal impact on the environment.
Sounds good. What else is in it for the City and Cemusa? Money, of course. From Mediaweek:
The shelter and all the new street furniture elements have a simple, contemporary design that blends into the streetscape of New York. In 2007, Cemusa will add more bus shelters, begin to replace City newsstands and build the public toilets.
To start the contract, Cemusa delivered the first $50 million cash payment to the City in June. Under the terms of the agreement, Cemusa will provide the City with $999 million cash and $398 million of in-kind services, including ad space on street furniture elements around the world, which will promote the City as a tourism destination.
So the City gets $999 million in cash and $398 million worth of ad space. Cemusa, on the other hand, gets to keep the rest of the ad revenue they derive from selling space on the bus shelters but must pay for the upkeep of these new shelters. I wonder if the glass is scratchiti-resistant.
After all, a vandal war is just a scratch away.
For more images, check out this (annoying) PDF file from CEMUSA. Why these can’t be JPEG files on site, I don’t know.