Letter: Bus shelters don’t adequately protect people

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

I hear that new bus-stop shelters may soon be built. That is good news, but there is a problem with many existing shelters: they're not.

What is it that people waiting at bus stops are supposedly being sheltered from? Inclement sun, rain and wind. A superficial look might suggest that such sheltering is being provided. But anyone who closely examines, and certainly everyone who uses, these so-called shelters soon will find serious design flaws that defeat their purported purpose. Some of them have translucent tops so that the noon-time sun is not blocked. These should be replaced with opaque tops.

The backing of many of the stop shelters is as full of holes as Swiss cheese. During our very hot summers, sunlight with its intense heat shoots through those holes like death rays from hell. That is why you may often see people at the stops standing up close to the solid and opaque advertising bill, unable to enjoy the comfort of sitting on the bench where they would be not sheltered from the sun, but bathed in its blaze.

When rain comes in at a slant and hits the backing, it splashes straight through onto the bodies and belongings of the supposedly sheltered people. Also, since bus shelters often have sprinklers right behind them, even on rainless days the unsuspecting bench sitters may be surprised by a drenching. Of course, the wind whistles right through these ridiculous holes.

There should be real shelters, not structures falsely labeled as shelters. People who have to wait for buses would greatly appreciate it.

MICHAEL PRESCOTT