The Million-Dollar Bus Stop Breaks

Arlington, Virginia, recently caused a national stir when it built a $1 million bus stop. The prototype “super stop” was intended to be a model for future stops along Columbia Pike. The road has been a target for multiple redevelopment efforts, including a possible 19th-century-style streetcar, which the super stops would serve.

While the super stop does have a heated concrete floor, it is only partially enclosed, so it doesn’t shelter riders from wind. Riders also quickly found out that its rakishly angled roof doesn’t keep rain out. They still got wet.

Today, the video screen that displays bus arrival times stopped working. The current heatwave proved too much for it to take. A new cooling fan should arrive in the next two weeks. Until then, the super stop will be a bus stop like any other, unless it rains, or is windy. Then it will be worse than other stops.