Coordinated Street Furniture

NYC DOT has unified the look and feel of New York City's street furniture. These coordinated street furniture designs aim to improve the aesthetic quality of our streetscape and the quality of life for pedestrians and transit riders citywide.

Bus Shelters

Two people wait under a bus shelter, one is standing and the other is sitting on a bench.

Bus shelters provide seating and weather protection at bus stops. There are over 3,300 bus shelters in the city.

NYC DOT worked closely with community leaders to identify the best locations for additional shelters to ensure that new locations best serve each community and the riding public. For the first time ever, all of the city's bus shelters offer seating, especially important for older adults and people with disabilities.

Bus Shelter Siting

Shelters are available in seven sizes: regular, narrow, short, little, slender, short slender, and double. Siting criteria include:

  • Clear path: With few exceptions, shelters must allow a minimum clear path of 7 feet in width.
  • Clearance from curb: All shelters must allow a straight unobstructed path of at least 3 feet between the shelter and the curb.
  • Other minimum distances:
    • 10 feet from fire hydrants or standpipes
    • 5 feet from tree trunks, canopies, tree pits, or cellar doors
    • 3 feet from streetlights or traffic signal poles
    • 2 feet from ventilation grates or street signs

Newsstands

A newsstand on an N Y C sidewalk sells small goods like snacks and magazines.

Newsstands are structures on the sidewalk where vendors are licensed to sell small goods. NYC DOT is replacing every existing newsstand at no cost to newsstand operators. Additional stands are installed as new licenses are granted by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

JCDecaux maintains the exterior of all newsstands including regular cleaning and graffiti removal.

Newsstand Siting

Newsstands are available in nine sizes, including widths of 4, 5, and 6 feet and lengths of 8, 10, and 12 feet.

Automatic Public Toilets

Cemusa public toilet

Automatic public toilets are single stall bathroom facilities that offer comfort, hygiene, accessibility, and security to the public, within a modern design. Automatic public toilets are also ADA accessible. Currently engineered to self-sanitize after each use, these toilets are serviced twice a day for inspection and system maintenance, affording the people of New York a safe and valuable convenience. Automatic public toilet hours are generally from 8 am to 8 pm.

NYC DOT’s coordinated street furniture franchise agreement with JCDecaux permits JCDecaux to install, operate, and maintain up to 40 automatic public toilets. NYC DOT works closely with local community boards, elected officials, and other stakeholders to solicit recommendations for new sites.

Automatic public toilets are available in the following locations:

  • Manhattan
    • Madison Square Park
    • Plaza de las Americas
  • Queens
    • Corona Plaza
  • Brooklyn
    • Grand Army Plaza  
    • Williamsburg Bridge Bus Depot
  • The Bronx
    • Fordham Plaza

Automatic Public Toilet Siting

The footprint of an automatic public toilet is 6 feet 2 inches by 10 feet 2 inches. Siting criteria include:

  • Clear path: Automatic public toilets must allow a minimum clear path of 8 feet in width in front of the structure.
  • Clearance from curb: All automatic public toilets must allow a straight, unobstructed path of at least 1.5 feet between the structure and the curb.
  • Other minimum distances:
    • 10 feet from fire hydrants or standpipes
    • 5 feet from tree trunks or canopies
    • 3 feet from streetlights or traffic signal poles
    • 2 feet from ventilation grates, street signs or cellar doors
  • Permissible locations:
    • On wide streets, only in commercial, manufacturing or mixed-use districts.
    • On sidewalks or plazas adjacent to property owned or leased by a government agency or public authority, or under the jurisdiction of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
    • On traffic islands or public places bounded on all sides by mapped streets under NYC DOT jurisdiction.
    • On or adjacent to parks property of playgrounds, subject to the approval of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Bike Parking Shelters

Bike parking shelters are open structures that protect parked bikes from rain and snow. Each shelter contains stainless steel bike racks for eight bikes. The design closely resembles the award-winning bus shelter, using the same high-quality materials. The ad panels display the annual NYC Bike Map and other public service campaigns.

NYC DOT works with JCDecaux to maintain 17 bike parking shelters around the city.

NYC DOT is not accepting requests for new bike parking shelters.

Learn more about other free bike parking options and suggest bike parking locations

Suggest a Location for Street Furniture

If you are interested in recommending a location, please review the technical siting criteria above and submit your suggestion to NYC 311 or contact your local community board.

New Bus Stop Shelter Sites

NYC DOT accepts requests for new bus stop shelters and the relocation of existing shelters. As part of our franchise agreement, all new shelters include benches.

Submit a bus stop shelter request via NYC 311

New Automatic Public Toilet Sites

NYC DOT is actively seeking additional sites for automatic public toilets.

Propose a new automatic public toilet site via NYC 311

Report a Street Furniture Issue

NYC DOT works with JCDecaux to maintain bus shelters, newsstands, automatic public toilets, and bike parking shelters.

Report a bus shelter complaint via NYC 311 Report a problem with a newsstand via NYC 311 Report a problem with an automatic public toilet via NYC 311

History of NYC Street Furniture Design and Maintenance

In July 2005, after an extensive competitive bid process, NYC DOT awarded a coordinated street furniture franchise to Cemusa, a Spanish street furniture company, to design, manufacture, install, and maintain the street furniture at no cost to the City. The franchise agreement allows the franchisee to sell advertising space on the structures within clearly defined limits.

Cemusa partnered with Grimshaw Architects to create sleek, elegant structures made from high-quality materials to withstand the rigors of New York City's sidewalks. This award-winning family of designs improves our streetscape and has become an iconic thread in the city's fabric.

Cemusa was purchased by another street furniture company, JCDecaux in late 2015. NYC DOT and JCDecaux then entered a restated and amended agreement to continue the coordinated street furniture franchise as prescribed in the agreement with Cemusa.