Top 7 Most Unique and Unusual Bus Station Designs Worldwide

The twisted and curved bus station you see here is a serious work of art by Dennis Oppenheim depicting the transformation of a bus into a house. It serves as a bus station at Pacific View Mall in Ventura, California. Standing at a height of 36', the architecture rotates 360 degrees and gradually transforms from a bus into a house. This eccentric bus transfer station is located outside Pacific View Mall in Ventura, California. Artist Dennis Oppenheim contributed the 36' high bus transfer station and bus shelter in 2002.

The public art installations of the bus transfer station are sponsored by the City of Ventura's Cultural Affairs. The steel sculptural work, twisted and curved, abstractly portrays a bus turning into a house. Art enthusiasts appreciate its abstract nature. The bus station has long been a point of contention among Ventura residents, with actual users of the station complaining that it provides little shelter in inclement weather, and local residents emphasizing that this quirky building is an eyesore. These complaints haven't prevented the quirky transfer station from winning awards and being praised as an outstanding abstract art piece.

What looks like an enchanting architectural masterpiece here is actually a train station with a bus terminal in Liège, eastern Belgium. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, the Liège-Guillemins station is constructed with steel, glass, and white concrete, costing 312 million euros. It features an impressive 200-meter-long and 35-meter-high vaulted roof. The station serves as one of the city's major hubs, catering to 36,000 train passengers and 15,000 bus passengers daily.

Liège-Guillemins, true to its name, is located next to the historic district known as Le Carré, although the station is tucked away on a side street, with the cathedral and the city's main shopping street all within a 10-minute walk. It is one of the most crucial hubs in the country and one of Belgium's four high-speed railway stations. Thanks to its design, Liège-Guillemins is also a relatively user-friendly railway station; though on a windy winter day, you might want to seek shelter under the station's concourse a few minutes before the train departs. Liège-Guillemins is not only one of the busiest railway stations in Wallonia, but also a vital railway center for high-speed train journeys.

In the town of Casar de Caceres, just 10km from the capital Caceres, an architect envisioned his boldest project: an intercity bus terminal with complex engineering and exquisite slender design. The small regional bus station, situated on a corner between a kindergarten and a school, on a street leading to the park, school entrance, and cemetery path, was designed by architect Justo García Rubio, blending location and tradition.

The most distinctive feature is the curved white concrete ribbon that can fold and serves as both a canopy and a passenger and vehicle shelter. The bus station sits on the path to the children's school with a loop shape that opens up the dream world for kids. Following the tradition of the region is the use of a single material for all elements of the building, in this case, a white concrete slab, resulting in a unique structure, the house's roof, and the new transportation hub's spatial boundaries. A multi-layered structure resembling a sculpture, it is not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional: it prevents pollution from bus exhaust pipes and redirects pollution away from the nearby schools.

Just an hour's train ride from bustling Nagasaki lies the Konagai area of Isahaya City, renowned for its fruit-shaped bus stops. Surrounded by the tranquil Ariake Sea, the peculiar sight of colorful fruit varieties lining the road looks like they've stepped out of a fairy tale. These cute and picturesque bus stops were initially built in 1990 to attract tourists to the Nagasaki Journey Exhibition. Still, they left such a strong impression that they eventually became a permanent fixture in the Konagai area, gaining popularity with both locals and international visitors whenever they stop by. Even after a few decades, these functional bus stops are well-maintained.

There are 16 bus stops scattered along the coastal road, National Route 207, and this particular stretch is referred to as the “Tokimeki Fruit Bus Stop Boulevard”. The bus stops come in five sweet fruit shapes: watermelon, strawberry, melon, orange, and tomato. These fruits represent the local agricultural specialties of Nagasaki Prefecture, with strawberries and oranges being the top-harvested fruits. Nagasaki, with its favorable oceanic climate and flat terrain, has long been actively cultivating fruit-bearing trees.

From Konagai train station, walk to National Route 207, and you'll encounter a strawberry-shaped bus stop. Fourteen out of the 16 fruit-themed bus stops line this route, and buses heading towards Saga Prefecture will take you to most of these stops. The Izaki bus stop is particularly famous for its panoramic view of the Ariake Sea, providing the most picturesque backdrop for cute photo opportunities. The Konagai area, as picturesque as a painting in Isahaya City, is a wonderful place for you to slow down and savor the small moments of life.

The United Arab Emirates is known as a wealthy oil nation where residents enjoy top-notch public facilities. Dubai boasts a range of air-conditioned bus stops to help people escape the heat while waiting for the bus. In a world-first initiative, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) began planning air-conditioned bus stops in 2006, with the first stops deployed in 2007. According to the RTA's website, there are 2700 bus stops in Dubai, with 636 of them equipped with air conditioning. Not to be outdone, Abu Dhabi inaugurated its own chain of air-conditioned bus stops in 2009.

These air-conditioned bus stops are present in over 15 districts across the Emirate of Dubai. They feature an internal button to call the bus driver. Users expressed great satisfaction, with ratings increasing from (74%) to (91%) since the project's completion earlier this year thanks to the smart waiting areas. The number of different transactions conducted in the smart buses marked (25) thousand transactions. The construction of 100 smart air-conditioned shelters contributes to one of RTA's core goals, which is the happiness of the people as they encourage the public to use public transport in Dubai and contribute to making Dubai the smartest city in the world.

Hoofddorp Bus Station, designed by NIO Architecten in the Netherlands, stands in front of the entrance to the Spaarne Hospital in Hoofddorp, built in 2003. The station sits in the middle of a square and serves as a public space in the form of an island, functioning as an intersection for local bus services. The overall design of this building is neutral, but the purpose here is to create a personal, powerful, less austere, and more general image. Departing from anything conventional like steel or concrete, the materials for the bus station are entirely made of polystyrene foam and polyester, making it the world's largest structure in composite materials (50m x 10m x 5m).

The building is finished with an orange-colored coating with shimmering golden highlights, incorporating anti-graffiti properties. The building is designed in the tradition of Oscar Niemeyer as a intersection between white modernism and black Baroque style. People often wonder about the shape of the building and its meaning. The company states that Hoofddorp Bus Station can be seen as a partly eroded rock, a form allowing self-discovery, or a visual response to an unfamiliar technology used in the production process, all depending on whether one is examining the building in terms of architecture, philosophy, or design.

The bus station has a small office at one end, with a pair of adjacent restrooms, next to a niche resembling a kennel containing sheltered seating shielded by an asymmetric windbreak. At the opposite end, where the structure slopes to the ground, a cast-in-place bench is provided for additional seating, facing in the opposite direction. The whale jaw bus station is a crossroads between the regular local bus network and Zuid Tangent.

Bagcılar, Istanbul's most populous district, is offering a new service for passengers: a library bus stop. Bookshelves placed at bus stops will provide various book options for those who want to entertain themselves while waiting for the bus. Initially set up at 11 bus stops, the city plans to soon install libraries at other locations. A total of 20,000 books have been placed in the small libraries since September when they were first introduced, and they are changing titles twice a week.

Although the libraries are managed by the Istanbul municipality, it's evident that the library bus stop is inspired by a similar project in Haifa, Israel. In 2010, a group of artists installed bookshelves at bus stops. The libraries were quickly embraced by passengers who began contributing books.

Traffic congestion in Istanbul makes the waiting time for the bus longer, and people look for activities to pass the time. Commuters can read books at bus stops with seating or borrow books and read elsewhere. They can return the books to another library at a different bus stop. The bookshelves in the bus stop libraries never remain empty, and staff will replace borrowed books with new ones every day. Adults, teenagers, and children can find a book according to their interests in the library.