Croydon Residents to Benefit from New High-Tech Bus Shelters
Croydon’s bus shelters will soon be replaced and upgraded with digital screens and state-of-the-art technology.
VALO Smart City UK LTD has begun a 10-year contract with Croydon Council which will transform sites across the borough with smart bus shelters providing real time journey information, digital screens and free public Wi-Fi hotspots.
Air quality, noise, footfall, and traffic flow sensors will be integrated in the shelters to monitor the area’s environment and digital panels will display emergency messages and travel information relevant to each specific location. Digital advertising will bring in more than £6.75m in revenue to the council.
Mobilisation works are already underway, and the new smart bus shelters will start to be rolled out in March 2022 subject to planning approval. Croydon will be the first borough in the country to benefit from this private public partnership and VALO will install the new bus shelters for no extra charge as part of the contract.
VALO Smart City is a leader in providing smart technologies for cities around the world and has appointed global architecture and industrial design practice, Grimshaw, to design the shelters.
Councillor Muhammad Ali, cabinet member for sustainable Croydon, said:I am very excited about the arrival of these smart bus shelters which will make residents’ travel experiences more enjoyable, informative and safer. The smart city sensors will also act as a great tool in our continued mission to become a greener, more sustainable borough.
Our partnership with innovators VALO will be our latest step towards Croydon becoming not only a digital council but the first truly connected smart borough which uses technology to enhance and transform the lives of our residents for the better.
The smart shelters are designed with residents’ safety and wellbeing in mind and will feature cameras, LED edge lighting, updated changes in bus timetables, and accessibility improvements for people with disabilities.
Isaac H Sutton, CEO of VALO Smart City, said:Our bus shelters and digital advertising boards will create beautiful new street furniture and a brand new level of digital connectivity for the borough. Croydon is committed to digital innovation and that is why it has selected VALO.
This article was originally published by Your Croydon.
