The City of Nelson has asked BC Transit to explore new seating options at the Victoria Street Transit Exchange.
The exchange has been operational since June, meanwhile, the benches and bus shelters were installed in September, but instead of standard benches, stand-up benches were used.
Councillor Rik Logtenberg, who also chairs the West Kootenay Transit Committee, told council at the Oct. 7 meeting the city was not involved in choosing the exchange’s seating style.
“BC Transit designed shelters and the way they were designed, they pushed onto the sidewalk too much, away from the building and didn’t leave enough room for city plows to plow the sidewalk,” Logtenberg said.
He said the only way to make room for plows was to install stand-up benches, but the committee has asked BC Transit to explore other options.
“The only way to square that circle was to have those stand-up benches. It was not intentional. There was no desire to punish homeless people or anything like that,” he said.
Another constraint, according to community planning manager Chris Johnson, involved limited space between the pink government building at 314 Victoria St.
“There was only so much room to allow the buses to park on either side and have enough lane room to travel. They made the sidewalk as wide as possible and still, there were a couple of challenges with that as the traditional shelters would stick out too far,” Johnson said.
He reiterated Logtenberg’s remarks about ensuring space to plow the sidewalk. While crews could use hand shovels instead, it would take them more time.
“With a sidewalk plow you’re going to have a better service of keeping that sidewalk clear and it’ll be kept more clear in better conditions,” Johnson said.
A proposed solution includes potentially designing and manufacturing fold-up seats, which BC Transit supports.
This option would require discussions with the province to gain permission to bolt the seating into the 314 Victoria Street building.
However, this solution would not be sheltered, which didn’t sit right with Councillor Leslie Payne.
“For the number of times the sidewalk plow has to go by and the number of months that snow is there, we’ve made the decision that for the rest of time individuals who need the benches get the choice to either lean against something or sit outside in the elements? I’m just trying to envision this from the point of accessibility,” Payne said.
CAO Kevin Cormack said it is not just about the ability to plow the sidewalk, but also about ensuring enough space to accommodate wheelchairs and strollers.
“It wasn’t just about transit users. If you’re on a wheelchair trying to get down the sidewalk, you need to be able to get down the sidewalk. Can a stroller pass a wheelchair on the sidewalk, can we have two strollers on the sidewalk and still have benches that fit out? I think that was part of the considerations,” he said.
“We can’t have benches that go into that area so someone can’t get down this sidewalk. I don’t know if they’ve managed to sort of make that all work now. But they’re working on it.”
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