Public transportation Glass roofs offer no protection
Bonn · The newly installed glass roofs over the central bus station in Bonn leave waiting passengers wet and frustrated on rainy days.
Some passengers may have not realized it yet, but others have already complained about the new glass roofs that were installed over the central bus station (Zentralen Omnibusbahnhofs, ZOB) in Bonn this spring. When it is windy or rainy, or even very hot and sunny, waiting passengers are given hardly any protection from the elements.
Several passengers told GA that they got quite wet waiting at the bus station in the rain. Others complain that the entire platform is far too narrow and therefore very dangerous. Especially those pushing strollers or in wheelchairs have to be extremely careful moving on the platform between Maximilianstraße and the busiest bus lane to avoid being hit by a bus on one side or a car on the other. It is a bottleneck, agrees the speaker for public works (Stadtwerke) Veronika John. It is also a problem for the busses themselves, and several tourist coaches have crashed into the old 80 centimeter wide mushroom-shaped roofs.
After the first three accidents, the old roofs could still be replaced, but any further damages left them in such a state of disrepair that they had to be taken down. Hence, it was decided to install the much narrower glass roof. At 50,000 euros, the new ones cost only half of what the old mushroom-shaped roofs did, and also took into account plans for the desired new construction of the bus station. When this new construction will be built has not been decided.
(Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen / Translation: Geena Kloeppel)
