Are VTA busses allowed to use these bus stops? If yes, then I don't care what color they are. If no, then I have a big problem with putting them on public property.

Since anyone is allowed to use the Marguerite, I have no problem with this and in fact think it is a great idea. I would like to see something like this done all over Palo Alto. I would like to see it extend to the parking lot at 280 and have a similar parking lot near 101.

The more we can advertise public transport the better. The more people who use it, the better. The more it is improved the better. This is the way to go!

Don't these folks have more important matters to debate? Build the shelters, they are a good thing.

They're letting developers turn El Camino into a canyon of over-density and urban sprawl, but this they have a problem with.

How about a quid-pro-quo? The city agrees to let *Stanford* advertise on public streets which serve the *Stanford* Industrial Park, and, *Stanford* agrees to convert some SRP office space to housing?

Having lived in London I have never understood how anyone who promotes public transit does so with a straight face when few stops have any shelter. Why does anyone think, other than the most desperate, that people would bake in the sun or get soaked, or maybe have to stand for a while just to ride at best an inconvenient bus?

We should ask the homeless what color they'd like.

Posted by Gimme Shelter, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood

>> We should ask the homeless what color they'd like.

Pipe in some music. At least you can try to attract homeless with good taste: Web Link

This kind of debate makes me embarrassed to live in Palo Alto.

Because associating the "stanford" brand with street-dwellers, graffiti covered bus shelters, and the aroma of urine is always a good idea. But than again, after years of strip-mining the "stanford" brand with all of the kitsch merchandise available through the bookstore and online, maybe it doesn't even matter any more.

Corporate group-think deeply embedded within the administrative bureaucracy sleep-walking through branding decisions.

Ridiculous. The image with the article at least doesn't scream Stanford Cardinal to me at all. (And who cares really?) And WHY does a bus shelter need to be innovative??
This is like the stupid bike bridge fiasco. In the pursuit of some artistic fantasy, actual progress is needlessly delayed.
Just build bus shelters. Someone is willing to pay and make it happen? Terrific. Make it happen.

The commission is right to give pause to having Stanford branding on a public right-of-way however limiting it to a VTA blue or a City green branding is way too restrictive.

The Marguerite goes everywhere, overlapping with other cities and other counties. What about SamTrans? They have buses that come into our county too.

This is where the funds Stanford wants to use on these 3 stops could go to the City's public art program and have that commission do an RFP for a thoughtful bus shelter that is beautiful over branded, and then any future stop can use the same design, leaving room for any kind of commuter program to stop at it.

The city has done this before: the public art commission worked with the public works department to put in the fun, colorful benches designed by artist Colin Selig downtown.

And no need to look further than our own Public Art Master Plan which calls for loads of opportunities to incorporate public art into infrastructure, naming bus shelters in particular. Within the City, the right hand should talk to the left hand and we'll get a result that helps SRPGo achieve its goals while not encroaching on the public right of way.

Having used buses in many parts of the world, a bus shelter is a great asset to any transportation system. It can be used to provide useful information about the arrival timing of the next bus and how to pay for the ride. Additionally, many shelters carry advertising which help the transport agencies pay for the cleaning of the shelter and other expenses.

We must improve public transport. Shelters make waiting for the arrival of a bus a much more attractive option than standing in the rain or the full sun.

We want to improve and get better usage from public transportation, then we need to do this and more.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood

>> We must improve public transport. Shelters make waiting for the arrival of a bus a much more attractive option than standing in the rain or the full sun.

Agreed. IF we are going to install a significant number of new shelters, we need to make sure the funding is there for continued maintenance and security. Otherwise, they just become a mess and eventually a liability.

The shelters are used by people, residents, neighbors, commuters. Who cares if they are built by private companies? Isn't that actually good that no tax dollars are spent to provide benefits for the people?

@Anon, thanks for quoting my post.

If you had read further you would have seen that advertising could provide the answer to maintenance, cleaning, etc. of these shelters. Most bus shelters I have used in other countries are full of advertising either in panels or whole sides of the shelter. After all, if someone standing there for even 5 minutes waiting for a bus, is more likely to read what's on the shelter walls.

Why is it these people insist on putting up clear plastic or glass barriers/walls on these shelters. In 10 minutes someone with a diamond stylus pen will come in and scratch and cover them with Mexican gang symbols and ruin them? Whatever they end up doing, figure out another way, a different material or a different design to deter vandals.

For pity's sake, approve the plan and move on to issues of importance.

Good for them for trying, but foolish to think that this will move the needle on getting people out of their cars. It's still way too cheap to commute by car with no road tolls and free parking.

Great, as long as they don't plaster them with realtor ads.
When I see a realtor advertising over and over again wherever I go (shopping carts, at the gym on the machine screen, and on bus stops) - I won't use them, recommend them, or would take a slightly lower offer just to not patronize them.
Keep the Stanford colors, and the bus stops will be fine.