Accessibus - A3 Zip Corridor

Queensbury are proud to have been involved with the development of the Shelters on the ZIP Bus priority Corridor, the ZIP bus shelters have been designed in consultation with a bus users’ forum made up of representatives from Havant Access Group, Portsmouth Association for the Blind and Bus Users UK. “The forum was designed to take into account the needs of people with visual impairment and limited mobility,” explained Hampshire County Council project manager Chris Murray.

The shelters use bright, contrasting colours in blue, green and grey for high visibility; street furniture has been kept to a minimum so that approaching buses can easily be seen by anyone sitting in the shelter; seats are fixed at a height that makes them easy to get out of quickly, and arm rests help people to push themselves up.

For passengers with limited vision, the shelters have a tactile paving strip at the edge of the pavement where the bus is boarded.

Another innovation is the tick and cross system, developed in response to requests from guide dog users and the Portsmouth Association for the Blind. “When entering the shelter, it isn’t always clear where you should board the bus, particularly as buses do not always stop in the same place at every shelter. Understandably, this can cause confusion and distress,” continues Chris Murray. “We developed a tactile tick and cross, using bright colours (the cross is red and the tick is green). These will be fixed at the mid-height rail of the bus shelter, with the tick being at the end of the shelter where the bus should be boarded. The system will be applied to all shelters along the ZIP corridor within Hampshire, and we hope that this and some of the other innovations developed for the ZIP corridor will eventually be rolled out across the county.”

Look out for the Accessibus logo on bus shelters – wherever you see it you’ll know that special measures have been taken to ensure easier access to bus travel for everyone.