The platforms come as prefabricated components – individual building blocks – so installation involves linking them together and bolting them to the ground.
They can be disassembled and reassembled elsewhere if required, or when they are replaced with more permanent street improvements. They can also be reconfigured to make different sized platforms and eventually be recycled.
Five new bus platforms will be assembled along Riddiford Street and Adelaide Road between Mein and Hall streets and the Basin Reserve as part of the installation of the new bike and 24/7 bus lanes.
The first and longest platform will be assembled outside Wellington Hospital in two sections.
Starting today, contractors Fulton Hogan will position and bolt more than 1000 pieces in place to create the 70m-long platform.
“We’ll be working at non-peak times and starting at the least used end of the bus stop as the workers follow the instructions and get used to putting these together,” Claire says.
“There will be some temporary changes in place at the bus stop while the assembly work happens, but people will still be able to board and get off buses here. All going well, and weather permitting, installation should only take a few days.”
Another platform will go in across the road, two more on either side of Adelaide Road near Drummond Street, and a fifth on the citybound side near the Basin.
ZICLA’s Vectorial® system platforms are manufactured in Spain and have been successfully used around the world in recent years, including in Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles and Portland in the United States, Canada, Spain, France, and Ireland.
It will be the first time they have been installed in New Zealand.