The glum wait for the 55 bus to Oxford Circus is about to become a more stylish experience after Clear Channel won a £250m contract yesterday to sell advertising on 3,000 bus shelters across London.

The 10-year deal with the Transport for London authority gives the US-based group the right to build, maintain and advertise on the shelters. TfL is keen to introduce a more "hi-tech" look and designers including Richard Rogers, the architect of the Pompidou centre, have submitted proposals.

Chris Townsend, director of group marketing at TfL, said: "We are going to be looking at implementing fairly state-of-the-art bus shelters."

Clear Channel saw off competition from French rival JCDecaux to win the contract. The deal will give the US group control of about 6,000 of the capital's 10,000 shelters.

It is expected to generate advertising revenues of about £250m over 10 years, with the value of the contract to TfL set at around £15m a year.

Stevie Spring, chief executive of Clear Channel UK, said the new designs would not result in the widespread introduction of new-fangled advertising hoardings such as plasma screens. In media buying terms, the most valued viewer of the adverts is passing by in a vehicle, not sat on a plastic seat waiting for the Clapham omnibus to arrive.

TfL is expecting an even greater windfall this year when it awards the right to sell advertising space on nearly 290 tube stations, the Docklands light railway and Victoria coach station. The 10-year deal is expected to generate revenues of about £1.2bn.