Concrete bus shelters in Canberra
Owing to their functionality and popularity, shelters are relocated to newly established suburbs when bus stops are closed.
The bus shelters were designed in 1974 for the National Capital Development Commission by the architect Clem Cummings.
Consideration was given to using wire glass, but this option was rejected after glaziers advised the government that such windows would be more dangerous than Lexan if they were shattered.
[3] The first 98 "Series I" shelters were installed during 1975 as part of a broader project to upgrade Canberra's bus network.
[1] Other shelters were relocated in the mid-2010s when ACTION's bus stops were upgraded to improve their accessibility for people with disability.
The director of Capital Works at Transport Canberra and City Services told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2016 that "they just last forever because of the material they're made out of, [and] the way they're designed".
[1] Bus shelters at stops which are no longer serviced due to route changes continue to be relocated elsewhere, including to newly-established suburbs.
Locations with the shelters include Bredbo, Burradoo, Maitland and Tallong in New South Wales as well as Surfers Paradise and Tugun in Queensland.
[1] During the 2024 Australian Capital Territory election the ACT Greens promised to build approximately 200 new concrete bus shelters.
The party argued that the design was better suited to Canberra's climate than glass bus shelters and could be decorated through community art projects.
A 1976 National Capital Development Commission paper noted that the bus shelters had been "generally ... well received".
However, The Canberra Times received letters which were critical of the design and one of its journalists, Shirley Despoja, labelled them "lunatic".
The Canberra Times has credited Dickinson as having "almost singlehandedly elevated the bus shelters to icon status".
[20] In issuing the award, the Institute described the shelters as 'a remarkable design for a functional pre-cast concrete shelter, with a radical cylindrical form and fibreglass windows, suggesting space-age technology' and stated that the 'architectural integrity and enduring quality of the design is evident through its simplicity, functionality, and materiality'.
