Upgrade your bus shelter to a solar-powered bus station

I’ve heard about it all!  There are now solar-powered bus stations, to add to the solar-powered public toilets and solar-powered park benches.  I think they are all great ideas, but this one may top the list….

Last week, the city of San Francisco, California, announced that it will be installing a number of solar-powered bus stations.  PV solar panels are installed on the rooftops of the shelters.  These will charge up during the day to provide power for the LED lights in the evening.

But there’s more than just light!  Can you imagine having free, solar-powered wifi while you wait for the bus?  That’s included as well.  Suddenly, riding transit doesn’t sound too bad.

In fact, I’m thinking about the lyrics to the song, “Magic Bus”.  Sing along with me now….

Hop on the bus in San Francisco

Each bus station/shelter will cost about $25,000.  Granted, that ain’t cheap.  But when you add in the free wi-fi and the potentially increased ridership, who knows how quickly the investment will pay for itself?  After all, I get really frustrated when I have to wait a long time for my ride.  Now, I can at least be productive – in a clean way!

Over all, San Francisco plans to install 1100 new solar-powered bus stations by 2013.  Not only will they be powered by the cool energy of the sun, but they have a hip “wave” design, that emulates both a seismic wave and the surrounding hills.

Says Mayor Newsom:

“San Franciscans who are waiting for their bus or streetcar to arrive will be pleasantly surprised when they see the new transit shelters we’re putting in across the City. Transit shelters that use photovoltaics, LEDS, and WiFi are going to be standard in the future and I’m proud that San Francisco is once again acting like the pace car for other cities by trying and implementing these technologies.”

With the wired design (instead of batteries), excess electricity generated by the solar panels will go back into the grid.  Cool electrical generation, cool design and cool cost-savings!

What do you think about San Francisco’s solar-powered bus stations?