KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsOut with the old and in with the new, for city bus stops

NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, Texas - You may notice some bus stops around town have new features, while others are under construction. That is because all 400 of them are being re-done.

Bob Woodard rides the city bus several times a week, in fact, he depends on it.

He says, "I'm retired, I have a little check, and no driver's license, so I ride the bus to the store and any place else I have to go."

But right now he waits in the hot sun with no bench to sit on and no shelter to shade him. That is because the city is re-vamping the 400 bus stops in Amarillo, after they decided not to renew their bus bench contract.

Woodard says, "The benches I can do without, but right now with the sun, I would sure like to have that shelter."

He will soon, after the project is completed with new benches and new shelters- all updated with the newest requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

City Transit General Manager Judy Phelps says, "They are going to have better benches. They are going to also have a more accessible route to and from the bus stop and we're actually going to add shelters out on the routes."

The new benches will be city owned, meaning they won't have advertisements on them, like the old ones which are now sitting along I-40 and Arnot Road, and are for sale.

With no ads on the new benches, the city will lose out on some money, but only a small portion. The project itself is being primarily funded through a grant, with a minimal amount through tax payer money.

Phelps says, "It will be a whole lot more convenient, a whole lot nicer. I'll have a nice place to sit while I'm waiting on the bus because the buses aren't always on schedule."

For frequent bus riders like Woodard, they just want to know when their benches will be back.

Phelps explains, "Some of the sites are a little more complicated. We have to do more work because you have to have an accessible route from the bus stop to the corner, otherwise you have just left someone on a concrete island. Depending on how much work it will take to bring the site up to compliance, will depend on how long it takes."