Downtown Des Plaines getting new bus shelter
Des Plaines will pay a portion of the costs of a new downtown bus shelter after all.
The city council last week approved the purchase of a $17,567 shelter from Duo-Gard Industries in Canton, Michigan, with $3,904 of the costs to be covered by Pace. The city will pay its portion using funds from the downtown tax increment financing district.
The old bus shelter, located on the north side of Miner Street east of Lee Street, was removed last October during a city streetscape improvement project.
The council in February narrowly rejected the purchase of a new $21,065 bus shelter, with some aldermen questioning its proposed location. Pace officials then offered to fund the cost of a shelter — albeit one that was 5 feet by 12 feet and would only have had room for four people.
City officials said since the Miner Street bus stop generates about 250 daily boardings, Pace's standard shelter would have been too small to accommodate the number of passengers. And, it wouldn't have matched the new downtown streetscape design, officials said.
The shelter approved by the council is five by 20 feet — the same dimensions as the old Miner Street shelter — with room for as many as eight commuters.
Pace's portion of the payment is equal to what the bus agency would normally provide for a standard shelter.