Comments on: Bus shelters: an ADA vignette

By: peter

peter — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:04:53 +0000

“a bus shelter is two glass walls, a roof and a board with legs for people to sit on”

When you start reading the requirements of the ADA – not quite.

There is the need to provide a minimum clear area inside the shelter, a minimum clearance to get to the shelter, and then additional requirements for routes to embarkment including heights, clearances and obstacle clearances. Then there are specific requirements for route signs. It could be a whole new construction of the site, not just a new shelter.

That of course does not include the survey of the site, plans to be drawn up and the build to be checked to ensure it is in compliance. Each of these actions could cost $thousands to get the correct certifications. This is not including any extra works required to move street furniture that might be in the way.

See how even $7000 could be an understatement?

By: aaaa

aaaa — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:42:00 +0000

@Don The article is not about removing old shelters, it is about not building new ones. According to article, old shelters have been removed because they attracted homeless, not because of ADA.

From the article: “Many cities have removed older bus shelters with wide, fixed benches, which had become viewed as havens for the homeless. Newer shelters are few and far between, and offer seating designed to deter or control people rather than comfortably accommodate them. ”

Then they mention that ADA raises shelter prices, but they do not state by how much.

By: GregS

GregS — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:17:36 +0000

I think Don is right. The issue is probably not so much with building new shelters where none currently exist, as it is with having to replace existing shelters that are non-compliant.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:10:29 +0000

It doesn’t take much added cost when people start talking ADA. Government has a choice, replace all their bus stops or remove all their bus stops.

Presented that choice, too many governments realize the cheapest solution is to not have shelters at all. Even if an ADA compliant shelter is only $7000, that is going to be more expensive than removing the non-compliant one.

By: boblipton

boblipton — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:28:03 +0000

As much as I despise the vague and litigation-inciting wording of the ADA, this one has me confused. In Manhattan, a bus shelter is two glass walls, a roof and a board with legs for people to sit on. It seems likely that the ADA is being used as an excuse. There are enough reasons to oppose the current wording without inventing spurious reasons.

Bob

By: aaaa

aaaa — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:33:17 +0000

What exactly in ADA makes simple shelter much more expensive then non-ADA simple shelter and by how much? Article says that shelters prices range from $7,000 – $60,000 are those all ADA compliant or all ADA non-compliant?

If the town is buying $60,000 shelters and the only issue is additional price due to ADA compliance, can the town buy simpler ADA-compliant shelter for the same or less money instead (from the $7000-$10000 range)? The only concrete info on this states that ADA compliant shelter does not fit to some places.

By: AMcA

AMcA — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:50:21 +0000

Reminds me of a funny exchange I saw in the Circuit Court of Cook County a couple years ago, where there was a case premised on the theory that a bus shelter was a defective product because it didn’t have a rear exit that would have permitted the plaintiff to escape an out of control car that struck the shelter. Even the Cook County judge was skeptical: “But counsel, it wouldn’t be much of a shelter then, would it?”

But naturally, a motion to dismiss wasn’t going to be sufficient to kill the case. Discovery and summary judgment (or a save the cost settlement) were clearly in order.