11 January 08: The Possible City
More than shelter



by Nathaniel Popkin
January 10, 2008

The campus of Philadelphia University, where I am serving this year as writer-in-residence, is a wooded park on the slope that rises from the east bank of the Schuylkill River. The geography in this part of the city combined with old ideas about the urban form conspire to separate the campus, which includes the old Ravenhill Academy, from the East Falls neighborhood, indeed from the city itself. A walk from the East Falls train station (R6) to the Ravenhill part of campus is short, but it brings the unwelcome pedestrian to unmarked hill at the rear of the University.

The 32 bus, on the other hand, delivers the rider to Schoolhouse Lane and Henry Avenue, the University's front door. Yet few students, staff, or faculty use it. Why this is so is a result of a handful of factors -- all of which but one are the topic for another day. That one -- the lack of a bus shelter -- is an indicator of how Septa falls so short of the transit system we need it to be.

Philadelphia's transit system seems inadequate in comparison to other cities because it is based on the bus. Bus lines don't translate well to conceptual maps and they lack a physical presence, which means they are hard for most people to grasp. A subway system, on the other hand, has stations, stops, and maps so conceptual they simplify city life. And a subway station is a natural place to disseminate information. It is also manned.

But in most of Philadelphia outside of Center City, there is the ephemeral bus itself and, at each stop, a small, rectangular card with the route number. At Schoolhouse Lane and Henry Avenue that card is posted 13 feet high on a telephone pole. There is otherwise no indication that every twenty minutes a bus leaves the corner for Fairmount Park, Boathouse Row, the Parkway, and City Hall, ending finally a few blocks from the Italian Market.

Now imagine the corner with a bus shelter. Here is the physical presence the invisible system needs, and what's more the information required to put riders at ease. The most effective bus shelters provide light, room for advertising, cover from the rain and wind, system information and schedules, neighborhood maps, destinations, and critically, they tell when the next bus will arrive.

Happily, the cost of installing and maintaining bus shelters is paid by advertisers -- enough to return revenue to the city too. Therefore the most formidable obstacle to installing bus shelters at scale throughout Philadelphia is the electrical hook-up needed for lighting and the LED displaying on-time information. Luckily, a Canadian firm has perfected a solar electrifying system used now in Edinburgh, of all sun-splashed places. There is an up-front cost to the solar system, which is installed without disturbing current infrastructure, but it is insignificant compared to a conventional hook-up.

Quite as important as its impact on the individual bus rider, installing smart bus shelters at scale throughout the city is a formidable way to reject Philadelphia's default parochial position. At once -- and at minimal cost -- we can forge a larger, more accessible, more clearly connected city, one that is open and easy to understand.

It's still a new day, after all.

–Nathaniel Popkin
nathaniel.popkin@gmail.com

POSSIBLE CITY ARCHIVES:

• 10 Jan 08: Nature's balance
• 6 Dec 07: Snake uprising
• 4 Dec 07: A Junction that ought to be
• 6 Nov 07: Around the Mulberry Tree we go
• 29 Oct 07: Wondering about wandering
• 5 Oct 07: No other way
• 21 Sept 07: Here is the Possible City


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