Tag: bus shelters

Pupil Christmas cards bring festive cheer to Princes Street

A series of Christmas card designs by Edinburgh school pupils are brightening up Princes Street this festive season by being displayed on all the street’s digital bus shelter screens.

Xmas card bus shelter
Eleven designs will be shown on the screens, with three of them – chosen by Education Convener Councillor Ian Perry, Vice Convener Councillor Alison Dickie and Executive Director Alistair Gaw as their official Christmas cards – unveiled at a special event on Friday.

They were designed by Jack Thomson (Oaklands School), Halle Jacobs (Sighthill Primary School), and Joshua O’Brien (Woodlands School).

The Christmas card competition is an annual event and for the fourth year JCDecaux offered the added incentive of 11 lucky pupils having their designs shown on their digital bus shelter screens in Princes Street.

Cllr Perry said: “It was really difficult picking the winning designs for the bus shelters as the quality of the entries once again was really high. I’m delighted we’ve got three winners for our Christmas cards with Jack, Halle and Joshua’s festive designs.”

Cllr Dickie added: “It was great to see how excited the pupils were this morning when their cards came up on the digital bus shelters. All the entries deserve special mention and thanks must go to JCDecaux for having the designs displayed until Christmas Day.”

Danielle Jeffrey, Partnership Manager at JCDecaux said, “For the fourth year, JCDecaux and the City of Edinburgh council have worked together to display some of the fantastic Christmas cards on the digital screens in Princes Street. We’re always delighted to be part of this project that showcases the beautiful artwork created by talented pupils at local schools.”

The designs will be displayed throughout December until Christmas Day on all the digital screens on Princes Street.

Gimme shelter!

Solved: the mystery of the disappearing bus shelters!

A bus shelter (just in case you don't know what a bus shelter looks like!) This one's in Crewe Road North
A bus shelter (just in case you don’t know what a bus shelter looks like!) This one’s in Crewe Road North

The bus shelters were definitely there on Wednesday. I saw them. There were people standing there, waiting for a bus. As you do at bus stops. But on Thursday – the two bus shelters by the Western General Hospital had gone – vanished into thin air!

Cut backs? Theft for scrap? No, the truth is out – the city council has discovered that the bus shelters removed overnight on Wednesday were dismantled by the company previously responsible for maintaining them.

Clear Channel’s contract to manage some of the city’s bus stops ended on 3 August and the company says it is obliged to remove it’s bus stops within six months. The start of the removal programme saw two stops dismantled from outside the Western General and another partially removed from Princes Street overnight on Wednesday.

The council was initially unaware of the reasons behind the removal but is now in positive discussions with Clear Channel, who have put their removal programme on hold.

Clear Channel owns more than a third of the city’s bus stops. and until 3 August it was contracted to wash, maintain and light the shelters as well as sell advertising. A spokesperson told the BBC: “Clear Channel’s contract to provide advertising sales, and cleaning and maintenance for Edinburgh bus shelters came to an end on August the 3rd this year after four decades proudly serving the people of Edinburgh.

“Since then, as a gesture of goodwill, we have continued to clean and maintain non-advertising shelters at our cost even though we have no contractual obligation to do so. As a further gesture of goodwill, we kept five public toilets open during festival season, again at our cost.”

They said that they had made an offer to the council to sell the non-advertising shelters in August, but heard nothing in return.

They continued: “We are pleased that the council has made contact with us and we remain committed to ensuring an orderly removal of the bus shelters. Their replacement is, of course, a matter for the council and/or any new contractor.”

A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “We are pleased that Clear Channel have now entered into a productive dialogue with us with a view to finding a resolution to this issue.”

The council will erect one replacement shelter on Crewe Road South next week, with the other to follow a few days later. The old story, you wait ages for a bus shelter to come along then two come along at once …

WesternGeneral