Dublin Corporation will install a modern taxi shelter in Upper O'Connell Street next week that may ultimately provide a template for replacing hundreds of bus shelters throughout the city.
Senior officials have estimated that as much as £5 million a year could be made in revenue from advertising panels incorporated in the shelters, which could be used to subsidise city bus services.
The new shelters are being developed in partnership with Adshel, now a division of the multinational Moore Group, under a "design, build, operate and maintain" contract, at no cost to the corporation.
The director of traffic, Mr Owen Keegan, said the first new taxi shelter was being installed in O'Connell Street under licence, but further shelters, some 50 in all, will go through the planning process.
Each shelter is made of glass and stainless steel and comes with seating, telephone booths, a litter bin, lighting, a pole for pennants to herald civic events and public information and advertising panels.
Mr Keegan told The Irish Times that in certain locations, such as College Green, the taxi shelters would not include advertising panels because they would be "inappropriate" for civic design reasons.
Otherwise, he stressed, there would be no difference in design between taxi shelters in different parts of the city. "We are insisting that Finglas, for example, will get exactly the same shelter as everywhere else."
If the prototype taxi shelter in O'Connell Street gets a positive response, Adshel is expected to apply for planning permission to erect similar shelters elsewhere.
"The design was driven by the need to secure an overall improvement in the quality of all street furniture in the city, and it was felt that taxi shelters offered the opportunity to make an immediate impression," Mr Keegan said.
He described the new shelters as "very modern, contemporary, clean and neat" and said he was sure that they would be appreciated by people queueing for taxis, especially on a rainy night.
He also pointed out that the corporation's contract with Adshel, which runs for a 15-year period, contains "strict maintenance provisions" including the replacement of any broken glass panels "within hours". In addition, he said, the company will be paying a "substantial amount of money" to the corporation every year in rent for the street space.
He also regards it as inevitable that the city's 300-plus existing bus shelters will be replaced by the new model. In future, all bus shelters will become "municipal facilities" and any bus will be able to stop at them, including buses run by private operators. They will also have digital displays giving "real-time information".
Public information panels in the new taxi shelters will include a map of the city showing the location of taxi ranks as well as fares and complaints procedures.
