Review – Bus Station [60154]

I love adding realistic touches to my LEGO city. Last year, when LEGO announced that there would be a new bus set, I got such an opportunity. My city has a train, and a tram. Up until now, it has had a bus stop, but no bus. I finally changed all of that with set 60154.

Set Summary

NAME: Bus Station
SET #: 60154
THEME: City
COST: $59.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 337
MINIFIGURES: 6
OF INTEREST: a dog, two bicycles, and a wheelchair
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2017

Summary Review: 73%

VALUE: 70% (This set is expensive at $0.18 a brick.)
BUILD: 80% (Nice set, but accessing the interior of the bus is hard.)
MINIFIGURES: 87% (Decent city filler Minifigs, excellent brick-to-fig ratio.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 55% (Really expensive build time.)

Review

VALUE: 70%
The LEGO Bus Station comes with 337 pieces. It also has a price tag of $59.99 in Canada. That means that each brick in this set costs a $0.18. That is expensive in my books. The average cost of a brick is around $0.13 right now (based on the LEGO catalogues). While $0.18 a brick is not unheard of for the City theme, it still earns 3.5/5 (70%) for value.

BUILD: 80%
There are three builds included in this set: the bus station, a newsstand, and the actual bus. The bus station is really more of a bus stop. It is only a covered bench and recycling bin. I feel like this set would have been more aptly named “City Bus” rather than “Bus Station”, as there really is no station, and the bus is the biggest build. I do like the little bus stop though, and I will find a place for it in my city. There is a window sticker advertising a beach party of some sort, a bus schedule, and a bike rack. They also included a little ramp to allow the wheelchair access onto the bus.

The newsstand is, just as its name suggests, a stand. There is a pile of newspapers on the sidewalk next to a street lamp, and a couple more on a rack in the stand. There are also drinks for sale in a “fridge” that consists of a window and open back. They also sell apples at this newsstand. I like that there is a newsstand sticker. This is not a bad little build, and it could be incorporated into a city layout easily enough. I would have liked for it have a little more substance though.

The bus looks great from the outside, and is actually larger than I thought it would be. There is a door up by the driver’s seat for regular passengers, and a dual set of doors in the middle for wheelchair and baby carriage access. The rear of the bus has a bike rack with hooks for two bicycles. While you can simultaneously attach two bicycles, their handlebars push on each other, making the fit not very nice. The inside of the bus is a little narrow with staggered seating that doesn’t really leave any space for an aisle. This is an easy fix though, as you can build it with all of the sitting space on one side. What I don’t like about the bus is the roof. It is pretty solidly held in place with studs the whole length of the bus. You have to pop each segment of the roof off individually in order to access the inside. Making one solid piece for the roof, and attaching it with only the occasional stud would have been much better. As it is, it is not very easy to add and remove Minifigures from inside the bus.

In terms of the overall build, I like the bus stop and the bus, and I am neither here nor there about the newsstand. My main issues are the bus roof design that makes it hard to access the interior, and the lack of substance with the newsstand. I give this set 8/10 (80%) for its build.

MINIFIGURES: 87%
There are six Minifigures included in Bus Station. One of them is an ape-child… None of the these characters has a double sided face, but the newsstand clerk and the girl in the wheelchair both have torso prints that I have not seen before. Each also comes with a hairpiece (or in the case of one, a helmet), and has front and back print on their torsos. All of them have plain, single tone legs. For accessories, there is a brief case, two apples, a dog, two bicycles, and a wheelchair. You also get some printed tile newspapers (3), coins (2), and a cell phone. These are some good, generic town fillers. Out of a total possible 90 points on my rating scale (15 points per Minifig), I give them 67, which equates to 74% for design.

With six Minifigures and 337 bricks, the Bus Station has a brick-to-Minifig ratio of 56:1. That is excellent, and earns a full 5/5 (100%). Averaging the design and ratio scores gives this set an overall Minifigure score of 87%.

ENTERTAINMENT: 55%
Bus Station took me 58 minutes to build. At $59.99, that means that every minute of build time cost me $1.03. That is a terrible value, earning 1/5 (20%). It really is a shame, because I do like this set. But, it is very expensive for what you actually get. In terms of whether or not I will keep it built, the answer is yes. Every city needs buses! I will even find somewhere to place the bus stop just as it is. The newsstand will probably get an overhaul though. I give it 4.5/5 (90%) for that reason. Averaging the build time score and the enjoyment score gives an overall entertainment rating of 55%.

Overall Score: 73%

I like Bus Station for the most part. The newsstand could have used a little je-ne-sais-quoi, and the bus’ roof needs an overhaul. But, overall, the bus looks good, as does the bus stop. This set is pretty expensive for what you get though. Despite an amazing brick-to-fig ratio, you are paying a hefty $0.18 per brick, and you don’t get much build time for that price tag. This is definitely one to buy on sale. Waiting for at least 20% off will brick the cost per brick down to a more reasonable $0.14, and the build time cost down to $0.82 per minute (which is still high, but better).

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on LEGO’s Bus Station in the comments below. Until next time!

-Tom