Riga wants to link city brand with new bus shelters

Approximately 100 of these are currently privately owned

On 15 April, the Riga municipal website informed the public that a new working group has started preparing the technical specifications on the procurement procedure for new bus stop canopies. This has been partially motivated by the fact that the contract for about a hundred of these installations has expired. They are in fact property of the multi-national advertising company JCDecaux and the plan is to replace them with municipal ones which will have a unique design to make the city create its brand image.

More appealing bus stops

What the future look of the Riga bus shelters will be like remains yet to be seen and this will likely be up to the design proposals of the winning contractor but the authorities have already specified that they expect certain things.

For one, the new canopies will have to bring certain individuality to the Latvian capital. These days it is common for urban residents and commuters to take bus shelters as a given in the city landscape and rarely if ever, pay any particular attention to them.

More than just providing shelter from rain or snow, the idea is for them to also carry more functionality, which means having the possibility to integrate smart technologies in them. For that reason, the designs and features of bus shelters from other countries will also be analyzed and taken into consideration.

The required documents for the procurement procedure are expected to be released in July in order to begin the process. The local Traffic Department will be in charge of it.

Until the new bus canopies become ready, the city council has asked JCDecaux to delay the dismantling of its bus stops so that the city commuters will not be deprived of their benefits.