A bus shelter will be moved from Fourth Street to Third Street (Council Agenda/City of P.A.)

By Alison Sandstrom

Transit matters

City to change bench and shelter locations along bus routes

Oct 29, 2019 | 5:52 PM

The City of Prince Albert is taking steps to better serve transit users following a new report by city administration on benches and bus shelters along its routes.

“There’s 96 bus stops that we looked at and once we ranked everything there were three locations with shelters or benches that weren’t being utilized,” Transportation and Traffic Manager Keri Sapsford told those attending the meeting.

Subject to a final vote by council, the bench at St. John’s School will be move to Lakeview Gate, while the bus shelter at 15^th St. E. and Third Ave. will be moved to the intersection of Fourth St. and River St.

Four new benches will also be installed at stops along the routes.

Finally, another bench is recommended to be moved after an advertiser contract ends late next year.

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The bench and the shelter are being relocated to stops with higher ridership. For example, 15^th St E. and Third Ave saw no one waiting for the bus there during a one-week period at the beginning of September, while Fourth St. at River St. had 50 riders during the same period.

The price of a new shelter is $8,875 — significantly more expensive than moving one and installing it with a new concrete pad estimated to be around $3,500.

The total cost of the two relocations and four new installations is approximately $10,000.

The city’s need to balance demand for benches and shelters at some high-use locations with the potential for vandalism was the subject of much debate at a recent council meeting

The company which the city has contracted to sell adds on benches and shelters will not put them in areas with a history of vandalism, ruling out sections of the downtown.

The four new benches to be installed by the city will not feature ads, and the Sapsford said their park bench design and metal finish puts them at low risk of vandalism.

The measures will come back for another vote and final approval at an upcoming council meeting.

Live tracking of buses on new website

Another new measure aims to keep riders from having to wait at bus stops for long periods in the cold.

Using the Transit Live website, people can see live updates on bus locations.

“I know in talking to a number of different people, they have used it. They find out when the bus is going to pass their stop and three minutes ahead of when it is going to stop there they’ll head out,” Sapsford said.

According to Sapsford there have been 7,500 visits to the website since it launched in September.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom