Emerging Practice Briefing: Accommodating People with Disabilities at Island Platform Bus Stops (2025)

The Emerging Practice Briefing, Accommodating People with Disabilities at Island Platform Bus Stops, examines the challenges Island Platform Bus Stops can pose for pedestrians—especially those with sight loss and other disabilities—and explores opportunities to reduce conflicts between pedestrians with disabilities and cyclists at those locations.

Adopted in many jurisdictions across Canada, island platform bus stops can enhance cyclist comfort by separating bike lanes from road traffic. While this design aims to enhance cyclist safety, it has created new challenges for pedestrians who need to cross the bikeway between the sidewalk and the bus stop. Recent legal rulings and research reports have highlighted the difficulties that island platform bus stops pose for people with sight loss and other disabilities.

This Emerging Practice Briefing does not provide technical guidance but acknowledges this developing approach to island platform bus stops, summarizes how it has been applied in Canadian contexts, and supports its further testing and evaluation by qualified practitioners.

The briefing includes:

• Profiles of accessible island platform bus stop designs
• Key features of effectively designed island platform bus stops
• Challenges and context-specific issues, with suggested alternatives
• Case studies from three Canadian cities
• Links to other related resources