A bus stop is not a bus stop

I am referring not to the play by William Inge. That was about people stranded for a night. But, this one is about a bus stop not yet commissioned but looks far from being stranded, what with it being adorned by advertisements. The scene is set in Delhi, along the Ring Road which pretty much demarcates the outer limits of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area. And, there lies a tale.

Delhi is one of those urban areas that are “blessed” with multiple agencies controlling the space. And, perhaps this is the reason behind the myriad forms of bus stops we see. Even among those stops that sport a shelter, I can easily spot at least five different types, each perhaps sanctioned by a different agency. I do not know. These different forms, shapes as well as colors (most of them are green but I have seen two that are yellow) of bus shelters are of vintages no more than six or seven years old. Our street furniture designers seem to have taken to the dictum of French fashion designers, at least a couple of designs per season! No. It is only one per year.
There is a competition amongst the agencies. One agency says that its bus stops have rain water harvesting feature incorporated in them. The other thumbs it nose at this and says, “Ha, mine is disabled friendly; my bus stops have ramps”.

The bus stops in the NDMC area are really snazzy. They beckon the bus travelers through their gleaming stainless steel canopy structure. It is not some dodgy concrete floors for these shelters but patterned brown tiles. Delhi bus stops, more correctly those in the NDMC areas, are going places. It is high fashion times and, of course, fashion thrives on advertisements. A look at the photos will tell you what I mean. What more, in the night the shelter (how I wish I had a photograph) is blindingly bright, so much so one would miss the shelter for the advertisements. Or, perhaps they will identify the shelter by the advertisements. But the ads themselves will be ephemeral. Then, what do you do? It is a problem.

Some of the older types of bus shelters too carry advertisement boards on the top. But the new ones in the NDMC area have taken the concept to an order higher. The top has billboards on three sides and the back of the shelter has a nearly three quarters high board . There is a vertical one on the sides too. If it made sense to put an advertisement on the tiled floor, that space would also have been taken, I am sure. This is revenue mobilization gone crazy.


But crazier still is what you are seeing in the photo here, a shelter under construction. The shelter has not been completed. The barricades are still up. But, the advertisements are already screaming their messages. True, they have not been energized yet and are day timers only. Even so.

This makes it clear what the bus stop is. It is no more than space for advertisement. The entrepreneur could be raking in the money while the passengers are scurrying here and there to catch the bus. Should a bus happen to stop and should passengers happen to be loitering about they of course can get on it.

Inge’s bus stop was no more than a front of the diner inside which there is action. NDMC’s bus stops are no more than stage props for advertisements. The action is all on top of it and on its sides, but hardly ever in the front where the passengers are supposed to alight or embark. Oh, I am wrong. Delhities are not sissies to board the buses at the stop. They would rather run along with it till the bus gets up to speed and then hop on to it nonchalantly. And while being at it they will also learn where and what to shop for. The bus stop reflects the people, now in Delhi as much as in Inge’s play.

Raghuram Ekambaram