A New Westminster resident is sounding alarms about the safety of a newly created bus stop – and the city is pledging to take action.
As part of route changes to the 128 bus that goes to Braid SkyTrain station, the city recently made changes to a bus stop on Eighth Avenue, in front of the IHOP restaurant.
“Unless you are there at night, you wouldn’t really think there would be a problem,” said longtime transit user Kim Steel. “The problem is they have moved it farther away from the one street light that it reflects on, they have moved it close to the ally, they have moved it where the bushes are.”
Steel said the bus stop’s previous location “wasn’t as freaky” because the area had been cleared of bushes.
“They ended up moving the bus stop farther away from the lights,” she said. “It’s really dark now at night to stay there and wait, and there are bushes right there behind you.”
While waiting at the bus one evening, Steel spoke to a young woman who expressed similar concerns. The young woman told Steel she had missed her bus one night and had to wait in darkness for an hour until the next bus arrived.
“It’s right in front of the IHOP, so when the IHOP parking lot light is on it is perfectly fine. You would never be worried in the least,” Steel said. “After about 10 o’clock or 10:15 when that light gets turned off, it’s dark.”
Steel, who needs to take the bus up to four nights a week, said she texts a friend the entire time she’s at the bus stop to keep in contact with someone while she’s waiting in the dark.
Steel called TransLink about her concerns and was told it’s the city’s responsibility to deal with lighting at bus stops. She said she made a couple of inquiries to city hall before the construction took place, but never heard back about her concerns.
Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, told The Record staff couldn’t find a record of the complaint about lighting near the Eighth Avenue bus stop, but pledged to take action to address the concerns.
“The passenger embarkation area for this bus stop was moved further away from the curb in order to install a wheelchair landing pad,” he wrote in an email to The Record. “We have reviewed the existing lighting pattern in the area and in order to enhance lighting at the bus stop, we will be installing an additional streetlight on the utility pole immediately across the street from the bus stop.”
Steel was delighted to hear the city planned to take action to improve lighting at the bus stop.
“That would be awesome,” she said when told of the city's plan. “This is just amazing. That will make life so much calmer. It will help the seniors too.”
