The new “boarding and alighting area” on Salem Avenue at Burkhart Street.
What can you say about slabs of concrete that now widen Albany sidewalks here and there? Well, let’s start by answering what a reader asked.
“I see that the city has poured new concrete pads next to the sidewalk,” the reader’s email said. “Two on Salem Avenue alone, at the end of Burkhart, and one by King Cone. Any idea?”
Yes, I had an idea, and to confirm it I checked with Barry Hoffman, the manager of the Albany Transit System (ATS).
The new sidewalk slabs you see around town are where ATS has planned new bus stops for the improved bus system that’s intended to start this year.
On Oct. 22, the city council awarded a contract to Pacific Excavation of Eugene, which submitted the lowest of four bids at $206,197, to build 28 bus stops.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, these places have a name: “Transit boarding and alighting areas.”
For now, Hoffman told me, only the boarding and alighting areas are being built. Benches and shelters may be added later, in a separate project, at those stops where they are warranted by the amount of use.
Under the revised Albany transit plan the council has adopted, bus routes and schedules will be changed.
“Implementing the plan will result in more bus routes and options for getting around
Albany,” a staff memo to the council said in October. “The new routes … will be timed together for optimal connections and are planned to better serve West Albany and South Albany high school students.”
When can you start boarding a bus or alighting from one at the new stops? Not yet, but presumably soon.
Hoffman intends to hire four more bus drivers, a process he says has just begun. “Once they are hired and trained, we will initiate the new ATS system.”
The transit system is mostly federally funded. Riding the bus currently costs riders nothing, a policy decision the council has made no move to reverse. (hh)
The point about the funding has been edited. City Councilwoman Marilyn Smith reminded me that state and local funds are also involved.
Here’s a map of the bus stops to be built. The council was shown this map in October 2022.
Do they still plan on doing away with the stop at the Boys & Girls Club?
Download the “Final Plan” PDF, scroll down to Bus Stops…
https://www.cityofalbany.net/transportation/albany-transit-system
Obviously they feel the children don’t matter or the people that live near the Boys & Girls Club.
That MUST be why.
There is NO bus service at all in SW Albany over in the Animal Kingdom
So, if you do not drive or aging in place there is no way one can get to a grocery store, downtown or to the medical offices
Busses need routes that actually help folks get to where they need to go
So exactly how are they going to drive a bus down the streets of the Animal Kingdom neighborhood with all those F350s parked out front? My bet is they can’t find people who want to work and/or pass a drug test.
Interesting. I’m sure riders will be happy with the enlarged route.
Another pondering: I would like to know how often the rain guage at Hyslop is read. You can read some interesting numbers each day on the weather page. Some of them don’t add up.
When will ATS begin 30-minute service and/or 15-minute service at Rush Hour?