Bus shelters past

Once regular bus and tram services came into being over a hundred years ago, passengers needed a place to stand to wait for an appropriate service on the route they wanted to travel on.

These photographs show how bus stop design developed quickly over a short space of time in the 1920s and 1930s. Why do you think that may have been?

At first, bus stops were simple metal posts with a sign above

Then they had route numbers and a timetable board

Then they were accompanied by a simple shelter made of poles and a roof. Glazing was soon added to offer protection from the weather like the shelter at the top of the page. Bus shelters have not changed very much since.