JEP Opinion: This is Jersey, not Croydon

Taking the bus is more environmentally friendly and helps reduce the number of vehicles on our roads.

Last week, it was reported that more sites are being considered for new bus-stop shelters. The story in Thursday’s edition of the JEP was accompanied by a photograph of a shelter which was installed at St Catherine’s last year as part of a first wave of upgrades.

Islanders are being asked what they think of seven proposed sites for a new shelter to ‘enhance the waiting environment’.

Most Islanders will sign up to the promotion of bus use and to make the experience as comfortable, and dry, as possible, but they must also make their voices heard about the design of these shelters and the other poles and signs which inevitably spring up around them.

Very often, large poles are erected to hold little more than a small timetable.

As an Island with such a rich and beautiful built and natural landscape, we must take more care with the design and materials of these structures.

We must also think whether, as in St Catherine’s, it is really necessary to put a shelter in front of a breathtaking view. Is that area not quiet enough to have placed the shelter on the landward side and for people to be able to cross the road safely when a bus approaches?

Are the proposed sites suitable locations for a modern, urban-looking steel and glass structures?

If we do not start caring a little more about these very important details, the character of some of the truly special parts of Jersey are going to be ruined.

Let’s not let Jersey sink into the sorry state of so many nondescript UK towns.

The States must take more pride in the appearance of our Island and give visitors a reason to go home and enthuse about a very special place.

They are a lot less likely to do that if we sleepwalk into making Jersey look like Croydon or Milton Keynes.

The consultation exercise which has been launched by the Infrastructure Department does not show alternative designs.

A simple internet search reveals a multitude of alternatives found around the world.

We should be picking the best of these for Jersey and not simply settling for the easiest off-the-peg option.

More bus shelters planned for Jersey: Click here.

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