Council to save cash by scrapping Milton Keynes bus shelters

Nearly 50 shelters are to be removed from all over the city and replaced with posts or flags.

The work will start next week and warning notices will be put up on the affected structures.

A council spokesman said: “We are removing these shelters in order to save on maintenance costs such as lighting upgrades and the cost of cleansing the shelter. All the shelters being removed are the old green ones which require significant maintenance.”

All of them are described as “obsolete” with very few bus services to them.

“If there is still a bus service operating to these shelters, a flag or pole will be used instead to denote the bus stop area,” said the council spokesman.

The first shelters earmarked for the chop are sited at Michigan Drive in Tongwell, Monks Way at Pennyland, Queen Eleanor Street in Stony Stratford, Grafton Street at Stonebridge roundabout Road and two at Two Mile Ash near Fairways roundabout and Lodge roundabout.

Others are at Garamonde Drive on Two Mile Ash, Saxon Street in Heelands, Great Monks Street on Wymbush, Saxon Street at Bradwell Common and Monks Way in Linford Wood.

One bus user said: “I think it’s a crazy idea. What happens when it’s pouring with rain and our bus shelters are gone?

“A measly flag or pole won’t be able to keep us warm and dry.”

The council plans to demolish 28 bus shelters in the first phase of the work, which will start on February 27. They will be replaced with a flag or a pole.

Twenty more bus shelters will then be removed during 2017/2018. Any reusable parts will be recycled into other shelters, says Milton Keynes Council.

Savings on energy and maintenance on the 48 shelters will amount to £16,480 over the course of a year. That’s £343 per bus shelter.