Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Buses

Snapping Together a Better Bus Stop

Oakland built a bus stop platform on Telegraph Avenue using modular plastic components. Photo: TransitCenter

Bus bulbs and their cousin, the bus island, speed up transit service by positioning the boarding area right next to the travel lane. Buses don't have to pull in and out of traffic, which saves 5 to 20 seconds per stop, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. That can add up to significant time savings over a whole route.

Some cities aren't waiting to build out bus bulbs in concrete. To get these improvements done faster, they're using inexpensive snap-in-place plastic platforms made by the Spanish company Zicla.

New York, Pittsburgh, and now Oakland have all experimented with the Zicla product as a way to accelerate implementation of bus bulbs.

In Oakland, the city added the bus islands along the protected bike lane on Telegraph Avenue to reduce conflicts between cyclists and buses. Without the bus island, cyclists would have to weave around buses during the boarding process.

Instead of spending days or weeks to dig up the street and pour concrete, the modular bus islands take hours to install. "It’s just radically cheaper, you can put it down in a day," said TransitCenter's Jon Orcutt. "The unit that you see in the picture from Oakland is about $20,000."

The Zicla product is ADA-compliant, with a low rise where the bulb meets the sidewalk. As you can see, for the bus island version on Telegraph Avenue, the bulb connects to the sidewalk with a walkway that cyclists ride over via short ramps.

Oakland officials are evaluating the plastic bus islands on Telegraph with an eye toward more widespread implementation "because they’re cheaper and faster to install than concrete," according to a post by the city on Medium.

Pittsburgh is also using the Zicla product to speed up bus service on Liberty Avenue, a downtown street where a number of bus routes converge. The platforms are part of an 18-month pilot project.

pittsburgh bus bulb
Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh. Photo: Zicla
Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh. Photo: Zicla

New York City uses them on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn. After the platforms successfully weathered the winter, the city elected to leave them in place past the trial period, Orcutt says.

Photo: TransitCenter
Utica Avenue. Photo: TransitCenter
Photo: TransitCenter

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Tuesday’s Headlines Stand Up for Transit

Transit needs investment, not defunding, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib writes in The Hill.

April 29, 2025

First New Yorker To Get A Subsidized E-Bike: ‘It’s Perfect’

Meet the first person in the Empire state to get a subsidised e-bike!

April 28, 2025

Monday’s Headlines Defy Duffy

It was a bad week for the transportation secretary, between firing too many DOT employees and his lawyers accidentally undermining their own case in a congestion pricing lawsuit.

April 28, 2025

USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About Bike Lanes

The Secretary of Transportation says he hasn't seen enough data to believe in the benefits of bike lanes. So we put together an explainer help him out — mostly using information from his own department.

April 25, 2025

Friday Video: Check Out Lorde On a Bike!

The Kiwi singer is on the top of the charts — and in our bike-riding hearts.

April 25, 2025
See all posts