Bilbao Bus Station

In 1997, the municipal authorities in Bilbao decided to rationalise the provision of bus services in the city. The long-term objective is to site the service providers in a new terminal together with the rail and metro interchanges. As an interim solution, it was decided to locate the interchange temporarily at the public square in Garellano where a street market had been in operation.

The authorities approached Cemusa to come up with an alternative solution and CEMUSA, in turn, looked to Billings Jackson Design. The Line 1 street furniture system components proved to be an appropriate starting point.

The core product is a component-based, high quality system that requires little on-site maintenance. It is a flexible solution with minimum obsolescence, in that the individual parts can be reused to create bus shelters when the station is eventually decommissioned. The key to the system is an extruded aluminium beam that provides the primary structural support and accommodates all services within its length.

The beam carries cast aluminium arms that support laminated, fritted glass panels making up the roof. These transparent panels allow the station to be flooded with natural light and help give it a generous, open feel as large expanses of sky are visible to the commuter.

The beam also incorporates continuous T-slots that form the fixing points for stainless steel columns and the glazing fixing assemblies. These steel elements are formed using a traditional 'lost wax' casting technique, which gives a self-finishing and highly accurate product to minimise material wastage and reduce on-site maintenance.

The team developed a solution for Bilbao whereby the temporary bus station would be composed of 90 separate canopies, each of which could be reused as an urban bus stop when the 'Termibus' transferred to Abando.

The canopies cover 2,000 sq m of the public square. As well as using the Line 1 structure, columns carrying advertising panels have been sited on the outside perimeter of the waiting area, providing revenue to the operators.  Aluminium extrusions house light fittings and are suspended from the structural beams.

In its first year of operation, the facility catered for more than 1 million passengers. With no immediate plans to transfer the service to Abando, it seems reasonable to assume that the initial investment in high quality components has already paid off.