by Principal Transport Planner (Operations),City of York Council

Several of your correspondents have pointed out the shortcomings of some of the new bus shelters recently erected in York.

S Dunhill (Letters, December 20) asked for an explanation as to how these shelters came to be erected. I am happy to provide readers with more information.

Earlier this year the council signed a contract with JC Decaux UK Ltd to provide 135 new bus shelters in the city.

The shelters will be provided and maintained at no cost to the local taxpayer; they will be paid for by the company selling advertising space on 80 of the new shelters.

The first batch of the new bus shelters have been installed, more will be provided early in the new year.

Each shelter will contain a large panel displaying the bus stop name and the bus timetable. The council are using the new bus shelters as a starting point to a radical improvement in the quality of information provided to passengers.

The new displays at bus stops outside the Railway Station set the standard.

The shelters are of a similar design to those used elsewhere in the country but it is clear that some, particularly those which have advertising panels parallel to the road, are unpopular with some passengers in the city.

We have responded to these concerns by arranging with JC Decaux UK to fit additional components where it is possible to do so.

In particular, the shelters in Stonebow were not equipped with seats and side panels.

This arose because of an oversight when the shelter components were ordered.

As reported in the Evening Press, we are extending the Stonebow bus shelters to provide seats and side panels.

Dave Pearson,

Principal Transport Planner (Operations),

City of York Council,

Environment & Development Services,

St Leonard's Place, York.

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