With the bee population declining at an alarming rate, a lot of countries are looking for potential solutions that will help protect them. Bees are vital for our ecosystem and the UK city of Leicester has a unique plan under the way.
As part of the city’s initiative to go carbon neutral, climate-adapted, and biodiverse in the upcoming ten years, they’ve started replacing their bus stops with the Living Roof bus shelters or the “Bee Bus Stops”.
These green roofs are designed to attract these precious pollinators, but also do a lot more for the environment, and here’s how.
Bee Friendly Green Bus Stops in Leicester
These green roofs are solar-powered and have pollinator gardens filled with a combination of wildflowers and Sedum plants that help attract the bees, but also other pollinators.
According to the Deputy City Mayor of the city, Cllr Adam Clarke, it’s awesome seeing the first of Leicester’s new living roof bus shelters popping up in the city.
Clarke adds that the feedback has already been positive from people excited about the revamp they’ve done on the bus shelters. However, this is only one of the numerous benefits of the city’s redesign of the bus shelters.
They will also be awesome for the passengers and the combo of solar power and living roofs is helping the city’s ambition to become a carbon-neutral and climate-adapted city by 2030.
First of Its Kind in the UK
The network of the living roof and solar-powered bus shelters is the first of its kind in the UK.
It doesn’t just provide support to the pollinator populations in the city, but it also absorbs rainwater, lowers the urban heat island effect, catches air particles, supports the local biodiversity, and encourages sustainable transport in the city.
Their 10-year contract with Clear Channel UK- an advertising and infrastructure company will help transform all of the 479 bus shelters by the end of 2022.
What an awesome idea, don’t you think? Don’t forget to share it with your friends and family!
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