Something NEw
Shanghai is on old city that has about 24 million people. Every morning most of those people get dressed, head out the door and take some form of transportation to work. Some people have cars, but for the mass majority of them, subways and busses are their main transport. For the most part, every day is the same scene, but today in Shanghai people who are getting up going to work early in the morning are seeing something new as they wait for their busses. Can you guess what it is? I will give you a clue. It is made with a 3D printer, it doesn’t go anywhere, it is made for waiting, and lots of people go to it everyday. Can you guess? If you said a 3D printed bus stop, then you are right. In the city of Shanghai, which has a population of around 24 million people, 3D printed bus stops are popping up around town. It seems that the Chinese are really putting 3D scanning services and 3D printing services to good work
A lot of 3D Printing going on
The project was started by a company that does additive printing, WinSun Construction technologies Group Co., Ltd, located in JinShanYuan, Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone. This company has been doing other projects like toilets, villas, and courtyards. Apparently though they have found their next calling in making public bus stops. The bus stops look like a big rectangle with rounded corners. Inside the rectangle there are seats. All of this is made using 3D printing services material. Each one was produced using a 3D printer and ink, and built layer upon layer. They were first made off site and then transported to each location. The great thing is each of these was created using recycled materials so as to help protect the environment. That is good for China.
Popping up all over
Right now Shanghai is not the only city that has seen these 3D printed bus stops popping up around town. Cities like Fenjing are also seeing them. And because they are not made at onsite, these things can pop up anywhere at anytime. One of the benefits for using a 3D printed bus stop that can be installed at any location and at anytime, is that the cities can test out bus routes. Some bus routes have bus stops with rarely any people. So instead of making everyone always stop at that place, they could move it to another location that would have more people. Also these bus stops can allow for experimenting with different bus stop features. They could try placing desks for study if someone wanted to work as they wait for a bus instead of the normal benches used at most bus stops.
China seems to be doing a good job at putting these 3D printing services to work to create things that are good for the environment and good for communities. I just wonder how many more ideas are waiting to be discovered like these 3D printed bus stops. My guess is that there are a lot.
