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A bus bulb, also called a bus boarder, bus border, bumpout, bus cape, or a kerb outstand is an arrangement by which a
sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...
or pavement is extended outwards for a bus stop; typically the bus bulb replaces roadway that would otherwise be part of a
parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...
lane. With bus bulbs or boarders, a
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
can stay in its traffic lane to discharge and pick up passengers, instead of having to pull over to the curb. The term bus bulb is prevalent in North American usage, whilst bus boarder or bus border is used elsewhere. A bus bulb or boarder can be considered as a specific form of
curb extension A curb extension (or also neckdown, kerb extension, bulb-out, bump-out, kerb build-out, nib, elephant ear, curb bulge, curb bulb, or blister) is a traffic calming measure which widens the sidewalk for a short distance. This reduces the crossing ...
, although that term is more normally used to describe a sidewalk extension for the purposes of
traffic calming Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. It has become a tool to combat speeding and other unsafe behaviours of drivers in the neighbourhoods. It aims to encourage safe ...
or other
traffic management Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight. Traffi ...
purposes.


Benefits

Benefits include preventing buses from being delayed by having to pull back into traffic, reducing risk of traffic collisions, reducing pedestrian exposure in crosswalks (if provided at the same location), reducing sidewalk congestion, providing space for bus patron amenities including bus shelters, and
traffic calming Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. It has become a tool to combat speeding and other unsafe behaviours of drivers in the neighbourhoods. It aims to encourage safe ...
. The protrusion also facilitates easier full length alignment of a bus entrance with a raised kerb stop, especially to allow level boarding in the case of
low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low- ...
es. Bus bulbs also retain more parking when compared to a bus stop located in a parking lane, as a bus stop so located requires run-in and run-out tapers. Together these tapers may take up as much space as the actual stop, requiring parking to be prohibited over a longer length of road than with a bulb, where cars can park immediately on either side of the bus stop itself.


Drawbacks

The main drawback is for cyclists. The narrowing of the road can create danger for cyclists if the design does not take their needs into account. Where more than one lane exists in one direction, modelling has shown that there is no additional delay overall for following drivers, since the buses have shorter dwell times (there is less time spent pulling back into traffic) and since following vehicles may use the second lane for passing.


Tram and streetcar bulbs

Some
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
and
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
systems use similar bulbs, such as the Melbourne tram network, the
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, RĂ©gion de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
tram network, and the
Toronto streetcar system The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in D ...
. The latter, which operates mostly on traditional streetcar tracks in mixed traffic with cars, and has frequent request stops similar to bus routes, is introducing bulbs at some high-traffic stops and transfer points that have been recently renovated, notably on
Roncesvalles Avenue Roncesvalles Avenue is a north–south minor arterial street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at the intersection of Queen Street West, King Street West and the Queensway running north to Dundas Street West. At its southern starting p ...
. The first bulbs (called bumpouts locally) along Roncesvalles Avenue also accommodate cyclists as the bike lane running parallel to the streetcar tracks would gently rise up from the road level to run on top of the bumpout. When the streetcar is boarding, cyclists have to stop behind the yellow line to allow riders on and off.These bulbs are also featured in the westbound of Johnston Road in Victoria City, Hong Kong Island. There are three expected goals for these bulbs: *Prevent vehicles from parking in front of streetcar stops. *Increase standing room on the often restricted sidewalks at stop locations in some of the densest regions of the city. *Improve safety for passengers boarding and alighting at these stops; unmodified stops require passengers to step into traffic to board/alight. The safety concerns are mostly with regard to drivers who are inexperienced at driving among streetcars in mixed traffic. Streetcar bulbs may also be beneficial at higher-capacity stops along other streetcar routes, and may be rolled out in conjunction with longer streetcars on the route.


See also

* Bus turnout *
Bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway ...
* Bus stop


References

{{Public transport, state=collapsed Bus stations Bus terminology Street furniture Road hazards Pedestrian infrastructure