Bus stops in Irish urban areas: good, bad and ugly

Iwannahurl

There's a "bus stop" on a new €20 million road "upgrade" in Galway City that consists of a pole stuck in a large concrete block.

It prompted me to wonder about other examples of Irish bus stops.

I recall passing this one every day on a regular cycle commute some years ago. Apparently passengers are meant to embark/disembark either in a ditch or in the vehicular entrance to a commercial premises. It has been like that for many years.

There's another one I noticed recently in Ballybrit, Galway, where numerous large firms are concentrated and hundreds if not thousands are employed. Bus users are expected to stand on grass in all weathers, with no shelter or pedestrian access provided. In this StreetView image, the bus stop sign is being commandeered for commercial advertising.

Here's another on the Kingston Road in Galway. Passengers (including and perhaps especially elderly people and schoolchildren) are expected to embark and disembark on a short, narrow strip of concrete, on a stretch of road where traffic is moving very fast and where no pedestrian crossings are provided.

In the same general area, there's this one on the Barna Road. Although there's a place for the bus to pull in, there's no shelter. Additionally, pedestrian access is incomplete. I spoke to one elderly resident a while back who told me that to get the bus he has to cross the road twice, over and back, because there is no footpath on one side of the road. Speeding seems to be endemic: it once took me a full five minutes to cross the same road (and I'm a lot younger than the resident I spoke to).

Finally, here are two well-constructed and well-used bus stops in Salthill. They have recently been augmented by the addition of electronic bus stops giving real time info.

Does anybody else have examples of bus stops in urban areas of Ireland -- good, bad or ugly?

SpaceTime

As you all know, it never rains in Galway and commuters love sitting in the blazing sunshine admiring the view.
It's also vitally important to locate them between a wall and a giant dip in the road, as this encourages a good fresh breeze as cars past and would never, ever result in commuters being soaked by a passing car (due to the lack of rain fall in the region).