First 150 of 3,000 new modular bus shelters recognized for bringing much-needed shade and shelter to the City of Los Angeles
In just one year, 150 newly designed bus shelters have been installed across Los Angeles—delivering thousands of square feet of essential shade, safer and more dignified waiting areas, and smart infrastructure to some of the city’s busiest public transit corridors. This milestone installation for the Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program (STAP) coincides with being named a World Changing Idea by Fast Company, the culmination of an ambitious, decade-long effort to reshape the everyday experience of riding the bus in L.A. Designed by a multidisciplinary design team led by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) with Designworks (a BMW Group Company) and Studio One Eleven, in collaboration with Tranzito-Vector, STAP is already improving comfort, safety, and access for nearly 64,000 transit riders each weekday—especially in communities where climate resilience and transit equity are most urgently needed.
The new shelters are designed by SOM as a kit of parts—flexible, easily scaled, and adaptable to existing urban conditions with a new digital infrastructure. This vital addition to the city’s civic fabric has been sited across the city by assessing multiple criteria that includes ridership data, equity metrics, and heat indices. Installed along key transportation corridors across Los Angeles, these new shelters are not only improving conditions at the transit level, they’re also strengthening connections between neighborhoods, helping to link communities that have long been underserved.
The shelter’s highly functional design takes its inspiration from California Modernism. In a nod to Southern California’s drought tolerant landscape, steel frames and perforated aluminum components are powder-coated in a pale agave green color, bringing visual cohesion to the transportation network.
“As climate change intensifies, increased shade and shelter is critical to health and equity,” said SOM Senior Associate Principal Carlos Madrid III. “Despite having the third-highest transportation ridership in the country, only about a quarter of LA’s 8,000 bus stops provided any shade or shelter before this program began. Our design addresses the urgent gap by focusing on the human experience by considering heat absorbing materials that provide relief to a form and color palette that integrates with the urban landscape.”
The City of Los Angeles set a target of reaching 75 percent of riders in each of its 15 council districts, and the program aims to add 3,000 new or upgraded shelters and 450 shade structures citywide when complete.
“Congratulations to the design team and project partners who have helped bring STAP to fruition,” said City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works President Steve Kang. “The collaboration between SOM, Designworks, Studio One Eleven, Tranzito-Vector, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works reflects the innovation, creativity, and hard work that are making Los Angeles a more equitable and transit-friendly city. We’re already seeing how this infrastructure is improving Angelenos’ quality of life on a daily basis.”
To execute STAP, the city contracted Tranzito-Vector—a joint venture between smart mobility operator Tranzito and transit advertising specialist Vector Media—to turn these new shelters into a state-of-the-art mobility hub network, building an advertising vehicle and asset infrastructure. “We envision today’s bus stops as tomorrow’s mobility hubs,” said Tranzito-Vector President Gene Oh. “The shelters we’ve built today along with the thousands more we will install in the future will be the backbone of transportation for the future, serving public systems for years to come.”
The shelter integrates smart city technology that ties the entire system into a digital network. The shelter incorporates a smart city light with programmable features; the light doubles as a neighborhood sign featuring a modern typeface chosen for legibility and modularity. Engineered to be deployed at various scales, the shelter’s 12-foot-wide canopy frame can extend to a larger 15-foot, 4-inch version capable of delivering 35 percent more shade than LA’s existing transit shelters. The shelters integrate a suite of new amenities to enhance the rider experience, including real-time bus tracking, public alert systems, a digital art program, and smart lighting technology. Meant to work with any third-party software, the shelters can accommodate new technologies as they evolve.
Designworks, a BMW Group Company, enhanced the adaptability and functionality of the bus shelter’s physical design by integrating digital infrastructure tailored to each location’s needs, including e-ink display screens, a strategy for the smart city lights, LA Bus Stop branding, digital content for ad displays and a forthcoming companion app. The e-ink display screens provide real-time updates for riders and serve as dynamic signage for city events, weather, and route changes while the shelter’s smart city lights signal status updates and emergencies using various colors and behaviors.
“As locals, we understand the importance of easy, accessible, and reliable information for LA public transportation riders. We’re honored to have our digital design work contribute to this innovative project to build a user-friendly public transportation system,” said Designworks Creative Director Charles Drueco. “The chance to improve the city we call home, using our cross-industry expertise in mobility solutions, has not only fulfilled our desire to make a positive impact through design, but also fueled our curiosity, passion, and commitment to continue enhancing our city for the future.”
To support Los Angeles bus riders, the forthcoming companion app complements the shelter’s digital experience and will enable features like maintenance requests and personalized journey recommendations using local points of interest. The brand and brand language for LA Bus Stop and digital content for ad displays on both the shelters themselves and accompanying “urban panels” will generate program supportive income through location-specific ads.
Urban design firm Studio One Eleven is designing the bus stop locations to receive new and upgraded shelters, working with the City of LA to simplify the permitting process and implement a coordinated design-build strategy. Creating a nimble and aligned multidisciplinary team makes it possible to install and scale the reach of this important infrastructure.
“Building something as seemingly simple as a bus shelter in the sidewalk can be quite complex,” said Studio One Eleven Urban Design Director Shruti Shankar. “STAP aims to quickly roll out shelters across the City of LA to ensure that there is shade equity and provision of sidewalk amenities for transit riders.” Installation began in early 2024 and up to 250 transit shelters total are expected to be installed by the end of 2025.
Project Team
Owner: City of Los Angeles, StreetsLA
Developer: Tranzito-Vector
Architecture: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
UI/UX: Designworks, A BMW Group Company
Urban Design: Studio One Eleven
Transportation Planning: Fehr & Peers
Graphics & Branding: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Fabrication: Tolar Manufacturing
Lighting Design: HLB Lighting
About SOM
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is a global practice of architects, designers, engineers, and planners, responsible for some of the world’s most technically and environmentally advanced buildings and significant public spaces. From a strategic regional plan to a single piece of furniture, SOM’s designs anticipate change in the way we live, work and communicate, and have brought lasting value to communities around the world. The firm’s approach is highly collaborative, and its interdisciplinary team is engaged in a wide range of international projects, with creative studios based across the globe. SOM is a carbon neutral business.
About Designworks
Designworks, a BMW Group Company, is a design house of multidisciplinary creatives focused on improving the world through better human experiences. For over 26 years, Designworks has served as BMW’s think tank, leveraging automotive expertise to push the boundaries of design. At the crossroads of tangible products, mobility, and digital innovation, Designworks crafts groundbreaking concepts and brings them to life across various dimensions. Proudly founded in California in 1972, Designworks now has a global presence with studios in LA, Munich, and Shanghai.
About Studio One Eleven
Studio One Eleven is an integrated practice of architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture, dedicated to creating vibrant cities. Focused on fostering collective well-being, their designs address social, economic, and environmental health. Studio One Eleven’s work spans diverse themes, from housing for all and renewing the public realm to promoting 21st-century mobility and equitable practices. Known for their flexibility and innovation, they collaborate with community partners to bring impactful ideas to life. Committed to diversity and inclusion, they strive to ensure fairness and support for every individual. Studio One Eleven’s urban interventions enhance livability and resilience, positively transforming communities.
About StreetsLA
StreetsLA is one of the five bureaus in the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. The Bureau is responsible for preserving, protecting, maintaining, and renewing the City’s street network and urban forest, including roads, sidewalks, bikeways, trees, and medians. StreetsLA also has jurisdiction over much of the infrastructure in the City’s public rights-of-way, including the STAP bus shelters and facilities.
About Tranzito-Vector
Tranzito-Vector is a joint venture between smart mobility operator Tranzito, an organization dedicated to helping public agencies assert control over public curb space to create equitable transportation for all, and Vector Media – one of the nation’s largest transit advertising specialists. Tranzito-Vector was awarded the up to 20-year contract with the City of Los Angeles’s Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program (STAP) contract to upgrade LA’s bus shelter network on September 20, 2022.
