Embarrassed Oregon Town Poised to Cancel Project to Build Bus Shelters for $106,000 Each

[The Straight Story]

Embarrassed Oregon Town Poised to Cancel Project to Build Bus Shelters for $106,000 Each

Chagrined by media attention on its plan to build four bus shelters at a total cost of $530,000, the small southern Oregon town of Grants Pass (population: 33,225) is set to cancel the project its city council approved only a few days ago. Although the city council voted 5-2 on January 4 to use $150,000 from the city’s allocation of the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program on the bus shelters, on January 13 the council voted 6-1 to reconsider that decision at its meeting set for January 18, 2012.

The story begins in 2008, when the city council decided to build more bus shelters in order to attract more riders, reduce auto emissions, and thus improve air quality. That green connection allowed Grants Pass to qualify for special highway funds under the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program. Although in 2009 the city had a total project estimate of a little more than $300,000, the amount had swelled to $530,000 by January 2012, when the city council approved the expenditure.

While it seems that everyone agrees the price tag is too high, federal, state and local officials are having a harder time agreeing who is to blame. “The price is obviously high,” said Grants Pass Mayor Mike Murphy. “It makes everyone want to hold their nose and gag a little bit here.” Murphy also points out that even if the town nixes the project, the federal funds will not go unspent, but will go to some other locale.

Murphy blames the high price tag on allegedly onerous state and federal spending rules, such as a requirement that towns lacking employees with sufficient construction and design certifications hire outside firms, which Grants Pass did. But State Department of Transportation spokesman Patrick Cooney contends that the state only ensures that money is spent properly, but that “the scope, what's in the project, how much art is in the project–that’s all the city’s decision.” The arts budget approved by Grants Pass was $15,000 per shelter. Federal highway officials have not thus far commented publicly.

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Embarrassed_Oregon_Town_Poised_to_Cancel_Project_to_Build_Bus_Shelters_for_106000_Dollars_Each_120115

[shraby]

1. Common sense is gone! $106,000 would build a pretty nice home.

Plumbing and all. What is in their heads? A shelter is basically an empty shell with a roof and 3 sides, many times clear plexiglass on the sides that exist. No heat, maybe one light and a bench.

[diddlysquat]

2. Somebody's buddy was set to make big bucks.

I'm glad they were embarrassed.

[frazzled]

4. We now have Bus Tracker on some of our shelters!

And I can't tell you how useful this is to riders in a cold climate. Even if you have a smart phone, just taking off your gloves and fiddling around to find that the number 56 bus is delayed and won't come for another 14 minutes is too hard. And of course, not everyone has a smart phone. And these bus trackers can "talk" if you press a button: great for people with disabilities.

We know you love CTA Bus Tracker SM and we know you’d like it to be in more places. To help you spend less time looking up arrival times on your phone or craning your neck to see if a bus is coming, we've launched a campaign to install LED screens at 400 bus shelters around town, with the first 150 to be installed over the next six months (by March 2012).

These new shelter displays will tell you when the next buses are estimated to arrive. With the push of the button, these new signs will even read those arrivals aloud -- helping to make the CTA Bus Tracker service more accessible to people with disabilities. Next time you are at a bus shelter, make sure to look up!

http://www.transitchicago.com/sheltersigns/

I agree with some above that while $106K sounds like a lot for a shelter, these do have to be made to withstand the elements for many many decades, use high-quality insulating glass and materials, be nicely designed (yes, that's important: we don't want lean-to shanties dotting our cities and towns, but lasting monuments, like the famous Paris Metro entrances), and in this case, have environmental elements that protect from traffic and fumes. And, yes, you have to pay workers well.

[The Straight Story]

5. Here is a list of pre-fab ones: $5,000-$6,800

http://www.easyrack.org/prefabricated-shelters-c-137.html

Does not include installation



$6,820

This 10' x 10' 4 Wall construction Outdoor Shelter can easily be used as a Bus Transit Shelter, Smoking Shelter or just simply a Outdoor Shelter. This prefab shelter is made of a Dark Bronze Anodized Aluminum Structure with ¼” Clear Tempered Safety Glass. Comes with a white Acrylic Dome Roof with Fascia and Integral Gutter as well as a ADA Compliant Aluminum Bench with Backrest. Installation Instructions and Hardware are Included. Installation is Not Included with this prefabricated shelter. The outdoor Shelter must be anchored into 4” concrete (consult local building codes for more details). Off loading the prefab shelter is the responsibility of the customer. A Forklift with extensions may be necessary to take delivery of this unit. These shelters are shipped knocked down in prefabricated wall sections and roof modules. The Shelter is designed to withstand minimum vertical and horizontal windload of 20 PSF. Roof shall be designed to withstand minimum deadload of 40 PSF. The Prefabricated Shelter can be outfitted with optional lighting, including solar, heating, schedule holders, bench seating, commercial doors, grill work, sign age, etc. Please call us at 1-888-776-3720 for more details on custom built shelters.

[frazzled]

6. With no labor, laying of foundations, insurance, etc.

There's also no "ighting, including solar, heating, schedule holders, bench seating, commercial doors, grill work, sign age, etc."

Add all that on, paying union workers, etc., and you're probably at least quadrupling the cost of the basic materials.

I agree that $106K sounds way too high, especially for that small town; but the costs are not so slim as you think when you add modern technologies like the environmental elements they discuss (plus the artwork they wanted to include: artists should be paid, too).

[The Straight Story]

7. From another article (explaining more of the costs) art went from 2k to 15k

The price tag kept going up, however, including an increase in the budget for art, which swelled from $2,500 to $15,000 per shelter. And by last week, the city council approved a project with an estimated cost of $530,000, which works out to $106,000 apiece.

By way of comparison, bus shelters for the city of Roseburg, a slightly smaller city to the north, cost between $7,000 and $11,000 each, said the city's bus system manager Toby Notenboom. "Ours are pretty plain-Jane ones," he said.

Engineering and design work on the Grants Pass shelters, which already has cost more than $100,000, would have been much cheaper if the city had been allowed to do it in-house, said Scott Lindberg, who oversees city grant money. But that's not allowed under state and federal spending rules, which require a level of certification that Grants Pass doesn't have, Lindberg said.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/01/federal_highway_dollars_pay_fo.html

[frazzled]

9. Maybe there are reasons for these regulations

For example: a bus shelter should be able to withstand accidents:

Terrence Brewster was sitting at a covered bus stop in Ballard in 2006, reading a book, when a car and a minivan collided at a nearby intersection and the minivan slammed into the bus shelter.

The shelter partially collapsed, breaking Brewster's legs and causing other injuries that sent him to a nursing home for six months.

On Tuesday, the state Court of Appeals said a lawsuit Brewster filed against King County over its bus stop should go to trial.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016405493_busstop05m.html

No structure could probably withstand some accidents, but siting of the shelter, which may involve costly reconstruction of pavement and roadways and requires engineering consultation, in addition to the highest quality materials, may be necessary.

And raising the art budget from $2K to $15K? That is still PEANUTS for public art. Don't you think artists should be paid a living wage?

Look, as I said, in this small town with a small ridership and not much traffic, this is probably way over the top for what is needed. But for large cities like NY, Chicago, and LA, where millions of people ride the buses each day and the logistics of installing shelters in a safe and lasting way are important factors, this would not seem an outrageous cost to me. Dollar average it over 40 or 50 years, and it's not that outrageous.

I agree that it's overkill for this town.

[The Straight Story]

10. I think I would forgo the art and sell ad space to defer costs

And the let the company that wants to advertise hire the artist

[dkf]

13. They turned this into a job creation program.

Why this isn't the same thing as the infrastructure requests, I can't tell.

[frazzled]

14. Ah, the free market reigns

I think it's a big mistake for this country to continue to degrade the notion of public, governmental support for the arts. The NEA has been decimated to almost nothing since the Gingrich-era culture wars; we don't even have the equivalent of a minister of arts, as all developed nations in the world do; and state and city arts councils are the first to be slashed from the budget. The US used to be a huge exporter of art to the rest of the world, and it was a major factor in our "soft power" and the respect we gained.

I agree that advertising is a way to fund some of these projects, but it's a sad and sorry state indeed that it has come to this: ads for cheap crap made in China, versus a town's commitment to displaying (and paying for) work by its local artists.

Remember the WPA? Some of that art still stands today in our post offices and government buildings as some of the finest example of American art--and it gave these artists a means to eat during difficult times:

Artists such as Milton Avery, Stuart Davis, Mark Rothko, Willem deKooning and Jackson Pollock were just a few of the thousands of artists on the WPA Project who have achieved worldwide recognition. ... The Artists Project was organized across the United States. The New York WPA had the largest membership of all the projects in the United States. Over 5,000 artists throughout the nation were involved. New York accounted for about one-half of the national figure. An eligibility process was organized, whereby the artists interested in participating on the WPA would apply to a panel of their peers, They first had to prove they were in financial need unless they were in a supervisory job. There, the artists would submit their work with any publicity, resume or exhibition records that they had. On the basis of the artists training experience and ability, the artists then received assignments. The pay scale ranged from $23.00 a week to approximately $35.00 a week. The artists waited on line each week to receive their checks and this waiting line very often became an opportunity for the artists to socialize with and meet one another.
http://www.fineartstrader.com/wpa.htm

[customerserviceguy]

15. How about just holding the errant driver responsible?

and not the taxpayers of a location that was thoughtful enough to provide a place to stand out of the rain for an already subsidized bus ride?

[frazzled]

18. I see: you guys don't believe in regulations or public spending

It should all be funded by private advertisting, and things like handicap accessibility, safety of structures, paying union workers instead of local yokels, etc. should all be erased from the books. Oh, and no one should have to pay for public art.

And they claim to be liberals. Sheesh.

PS: The drivers will be held responsible. But with safe shelters, maybe people won't die.

[customerserviceguy]

20. And if a truck hits it

Then maybe they still will. Either way, holding taxpayers responsible for this type of an injury resulting from an automobile accident is not something I find acceptable. If I'm on the jury, the taxpayers win.

Nobody here was against accessibility, you pulled something up out of thin air. And we have union city workers in a construction department to erect the kits, anyway, so that's another invented grievance.

And since you bring it up, yeah, $15K for public art that's likely to be defaced anyway is way too damned much. If artists can't sell their "art" on the public market, I also don't like getting taxpayers to cough up funds for stuff that's picked by some snooty committee trying to justify their otherwise unmarketable art degrees.

The shelters in the picture elsewhere on this thread seem perfectly fine to me. If being economical with a limited amount of tax money so that real needs can be met makes me not progressive, then so be it.

[customerserviceguy]

21. This is Grants Pass

Snow melts off within a couple of days, and I really don't think they have a massive vandalism problem. I lived in Western WA for 37 years, and I know the terrain. The shelters in the picture are perfectly fine for this town.

[onethatcares]

19. that's a nice looking shelter and with core foundations

I'm sure they could be installed for a reasonable price. Heck, they come prefab, you drill some 4 inch concrete cores for foundations, insert uprights and away you go.

a whole lot less than 106k each.

[kestrel91316]

11. We were supposed to have that bus tracker signage on a new express route

here in Los Angeles but most of them never worked and the rest only worked for about 6 months. It was and is total BS IMHO.

So now we can call in some phone number to find out when the next bus is coming on any route, but it just tells you when the next one is SCHEDULED to arrive, which bears absolutely no relation to reality.

On the busiest street in the Valley on weekends it's so bad I just walk. Miles. Or ride my bike. The schedule has been cut to one bus per 45-60 minutes, but they don't maintain them properly so frequently you have to wait 90 minutes to 2 hours. Yeah, you read that right.

[Iggo]

8. Come on now.

We all know most of that money wasn't going for bus shelters at all.

[NuttyFluffers]

12. *sigh* a waste indeed. get more buses instead!

why don't people take buses? because they don't go where they are needed, or they don't go there often enough.

how to solve this? more buses.

$500,000 would've gone a long ways towards more buses and driver jobs (read: helps local economy) than any little hut would've done.

how to make it popular? find all the elementary schools, elderly and low income apartments, and the major civic, commercial, and cultural centers and draw connecting lines. where there's a gap, put a bus line there. or look at existing lines; where there's an hour long wait, put another bus on that line.

this isn't rocket science.