Heat stress mitigation by trees and shelters at bus stops

From life in Oslo, Norway.<p>In so far as improving the comfort of passengers using mass transit the best way to attract more travelers and retain travelers is to run enough busses, trains, subway trains, during rush hour so that the passangers are not packed like sardines ass to dick for 30 mins or more twice a day.<p>Then cooling inside the inside the passaenger area is also key Sweating like a pig while playing a sardine makes the experience even worse.<p>Starting work drenched in sweat and the smell of other poeples perfume and cologn is not a good start.

I think about this often. I hear people talking about why we need sunscreen these days and in my mind it&#x27;s simply due to the lack of foliage and natural shade in both modern urban and rural areas (which are largely farm land these days)

&gt; Municipalities are attempting to create safe and comfortable transit systems in the face of climate change.<p>Citation needed. Over here, municipalities are trying to find further ways of reducing the cost of public transport. Spending money on comfort is simply not going to happen. Belgium&#x27;s 2nd largest city&#x27;s transit system has famously malfunctioning escalators (some of which have been broken for half a decade). The offering is reduced year after year, while prices go up.<p>I wish things were different.

Trees are relaxing to look at when your bus is late :) and 3.2C cooler than shelters!<p>Though most know such things intuitively, hard numbers help transit designers make their case.

People who want to chop down trees for any reason other than them being in danger of falling down really baffle me.

Reminds me of a Technology Connections video describing how helpful awnings are in reducing temperatures inside your house [0]. Are there any modern-looking awnings that wouldn&#x27;t look out of place in my neighborhood?<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=uhbDfi7Ee7k" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=uhbDfi7Ee7k</a>

You can have a pretty good simulacrum of a forest using only two tennis courts worth of land (a pittance in most US cities that have 30% reserved for parking).<p>Look up Miyawaki method.

This is great for focusing on providing adequate public transportation.<p>I would also love to see attempts at providing heat stress mitigation FOR trees.

Planting trees is hard. Phoenix AZ has a tree planting program called the Shade Phoenix Plan and they publish public reports.<p>Watering and maintenance are a big cost. Iirc it&#x27;s about $1000 to plant a tree. $100 for the tree and $900 for the irrigation and labor to plant it. In the first 10 years of the program 2&#x2F;3 of the 106,000 planted trees were removed due to accidents, storms, not enough water&#x2F;aging. [1]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.phoenix.gov&#x2F;content&#x2F;dam&#x2F;phoenix&#x2F;heatsite&#x2F;documents&#x2F;BP_ShadePhoenixPlan_Report_031025_EN.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.phoenix.gov&#x2F;content&#x2F;dam&#x2F;phoenix&#x2F;heatsite&#x2F;documen...</a>

Trees as shelter works as long there is water for the trees(evaporation cools, like in sweating). With increasing heat stress there is not enough water and the trees will simply die. Or burn.

&quot;Here&#x27;s a scientific study that shows that trees and shelters are nice because they provide shade&quot;<p>thanks, I guess. I didn&#x27;t need a study telling me something I already know and agree with

We all know this. We need political will.

At least in CA, we&#x27;re going the opposite direction - complete removal of shelter, even the benches have dividers on them so people can&#x27;t sleep. This is meant to deter homeless, but the city also doesn&#x27;t really provide them anywhere else to go, so things that provide additional shelter at bus stops are essentially a non-starter for the city.

Do we need reasons to plant cities in urban areas now?<p>Look at photos of Tel Aviv. Lush green trees everywhere. Compare it with any other city in the desert. Completely changes the quality of life.

Given the cost of maintaining trees, I’m surprised councils in the UK haven’t just removed street trees and “planted” metal ones.

Trees good, study finds

See also <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thegreencities.eu&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thegreencities.eu&#x2F;</a>