Living Bus Shelters Now Growing in Reading!

Reading’s first ever green-roofed bus shelters are now live and growing!

Reading Borough Council has installed the ‘living’ bus shelters at the A33, opposite Kennet Island, and at Christchurch Green, by the University of Reading.

The innovative shelters help to improve local environments by helping to absorb traffic fumes and rainwater, as well as being an attractive visual addition to the area. They are planted with sedum plants, specially chosen to tolerate changes in rainfall and temperature, and with minimal maintenance  and no mowing required.

If the experiment is successful, the Council hopes to be able to extend them at a number of older council-owned bus shelters across Reading.

Reading Borough Council is in the process of producing a Bus Service Improvement Plan that will bid for future Government investment in local bus services and facilities. Green roofed bus shelters would be one aspect of the Council’s bid.

Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said:

“These living bus shelters are more than just bus stops and I hope they will be welcomed by local residents and bus passengers alike, even if many may not realise they even exist!

 “The green roofs will make their own small contribution to improving air quality and absorbing rainfall in the local areas where they are placed. They are of course just one very small part of a much wider plan by the Council to help tackle the poor air quality which continues to blight some parts of Reading, which we are tackling through sustainable transport initiatives and by restoring, extending and creating new habitats through the Council’s Biodiversity Action Plan. It also sits alongside a commitment in the Reading Climate Emergency Strategy to promote green roofs.

 “A complete audit of bus shelters in the borough is currently taking place. The ‘green roofed’ shelters at the top of Redlands Road and on the A33 have been installed on a trial basis with a view to extending them to other parts of the borough in the future if successful and if we can attract additional funding from Government as part of our Bus Service Improvement Plan.”