Bus Shelters of Arizona

I know it’s a weird title, but I can’t help it.  I found these incredible bus shelters around Phoenix.  I spent half my life waiting for buses, in Birmingham, in shelters that were barely functional.  The steel and glass designs seemed to funnel the rotten weather into the shelter rather than the other way around.  There was only a two foot square area that everyone tried to huddle in, because it was the only dry section.  The things were ugly, in every sense of the word.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this in Tempe.

It took me a while to realize what it was, but it’s definitely a bus shelter.  It’s also a work of art.

‘Wow’, I thought, ‘that’s really different.  Apparently, it’s not so different in this part of the world.  The next surprise was in Guadalupe, where they have Adobe bus shelters.

Then we were driving out to Mesa to the Organ Stop Pizza Restaurant when we passed these two beauties.

I started to realize that these weren’t oddities; these structures were scattered all over the place.  Even in Scottsdale, I found several wooden designs.

These shelters are so nice; I want to catch the bus!  Such a simple thing made into something special.  Not all of them, but enough to make a difference.  Public art becomes functional.  I love it.

The various municipalities have lists of the shelters and public sculpture that they have commissioned; Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe.  A small note on Tempe’s web site noted that the rational for the exotic bus shelters, was, “to encourage people to use public transportation by making it attractive, innovative, and functional”. I’m all for that.