Construction of four bus shelters, valued at $154,138, was approved by the qathet Regional District board of directors on Thursday, May 23.
The board approved a budget amendment to allocate $23,000 from the Community Works fund toward the paratransit service in 2019 to support construction of bus shelters in the following locations: Downtown Lund; Craig Road south; Black Point north; Lang Bay north
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said that $38,000 for each bus shelter was a lot of money. He asked if there was any way to use the money to engage volunteer organizations. He said he has seen a number of bus shelters built by private individuals and some by volunteer groups.
“I’m thinking that money can be better spent,” said Gisborne.
Regional district manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux said that 80 per cent of the money for the project is coming from BC Transit and he is not sure that bus shelters built by volunteers would meet the crown corporation’s standards.
“It may put the regional district at risk because of having an injury or something like that at one of these bus stops,” said Devereaux. “The shelters provided by BC Transit are storm shelters, they are full-glass shelters, they have solar lighting so the bus drivers can see passengers waiting and the passengers feel safe waiting in a shelter at night by themselves.”
The motion carried with Gisborne opposed.
