The Impact of Aesthetic Design on Bus Shelter Usability

Public transportation is an important tool for any city with the population to support it. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) (2012), between 1995 and 2011, public transportation ridership increased by 34%—a growth rate higher than the 17% increase in U.S. population and higher than the 22% growth in the use of the nation’s highways over the same period. However, even a city with the population to support public transportation will not receive all of its benefits if the implementation is not handled successfully. One requirement for bus transit is that the system be equipped with shelters having minimally the following features: support, visibility, security and information access (Ely, 1998). A field study was conducted to ascertain the impact of these design elements as well as aesthetic pleasantness on users’ perceptions of the shelters. Ultimately, our goal is to implement future results in the creation of a needs-based heuristic framework which will aid designers in the formation of functional bus shelters.