Pace to install bus shelters on Gary Avenue in Carol Stream

Carol Stream commuters will be able to take cover from the elements in bus shelters Pace will install by late winter or early spring along Gary Avenue.

The shelters will have some modern conveniences, such as solar-powered lighting, QR codes that riders can scan with their smartphones to check bus schedules and illuminated ads.

Pace will pay to install five shelters on concrete pads already built as part of a DuPage County project to widen and resurface Gary Avenue.

The structures will be placed at the northeast and southwest corners of two intersections - at Elk Trail and Fullerton Avenue - along the busy thoroughfare. The fifth shelter will be at the southwest corner of Gary and Park Hill Trail.

Trustees have signed an agreement with Pace and Intersection Media LLC, a contractor for the suburban bus service. Under the deal, 32.5 percent of the revenue generated from selling ad space will go to the village, 32.5 percent to Pace and 35 percent to Intersection Media.

The company must clear snow and trash from the shelters at least once a week in addition to maintaining and selling panels for ads.

Pace has told the village the shelters have been ordered and winter weather won't delay the installation, Community Development Director Don Bastian said.

The shelters should open to commuters within 90 days, Bastian said.

DuPage officials long have encouraged creation of bus shelters to promote public transportation throughout the county. Those proposals called for selling spots for advertising to help pay for shelter upkeep, but faced opposition from municipal officials who criticized the ads as billboards.

Pace allows towns to restrict what kinds of ads appear on shelters, and Carol Stream is prohibiting any for alcohol or tobacco products, Bastian said.

The village also can choose to advertise its special events at no cost.

Three of the shelters will have a different style than two on the east side of Gary. The former are more narrow to allow room for an asphalt path that engineers have designed for the road's west side.

Pace scrapped plans for two additional shelters on Schmale Road north and south of North Avenue near Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets grocery store because of low ridership at those bus stops, Bastian wrote in a memo to the board.