Metro Vancouver is officially home to the sorriest bus stop in North America.
Streetsblog USA announced the winner of its Sorry Bus Stops contest today, posting: “It’s official! The sorriest bus stop in America is in … Canada!”
Google Maps
“The horrendous bus stop on the Lougheed Highway in Pitt Meadows, just outside of Vancouver, has won our annual contest, trouncing Cincinnati in a 58%-42% landslide,” wrote Gersh Kuntzman, from Streets Blog USA.
And it’s easy to see why.
Basically, to catch the bus, you would have to stand on the busy highway – exposed to traffic, unless you wanted to jump the jersey barrier when the bus arrived.
The contest narrowed down dozens of nominations of the “sorriest, most dangerous and neglected bus stops” and then asked the public to vote which they believed was the worst.
The Pitt Meadows bus stop was submitted by Jason Lee, who labelled it a “disaster waiting to happen" in his submission.
“The bus stop pole is located atop a jersey barrier, which serves as a buffer between speeding cars and the edge of the roadway,” he wrote in his submission.
“Transit riders are forced to either a) wait on the other side of the jersey barrier, and then climb over it when the bus arrives, or b) wait on the highway side of barrier, directly exposed to traffic.
“Riders in wheelchairs must wait on the highway side of the barrier.”
Lee also highlighted that the roadway could also be slick.
“That part of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland receives nearly 58 inches of precipitation per year, most of it concentrated during the dark winter months," he wrote.
“This bus stop is a disaster waiting to happen.
"In my three decades of riding transit, I have never seen a bus stop designed like this."
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation says the decision to designate this a bus stop was made by TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company (one of TransLink’s operating companies).
“It’s concerning to hear that people using this bus stop don’t feel safe, and appreciate that this photo has been brought to our attention,” the Ministry told the Courier.
Related:
- Is this Metro Vancouver bus stop the WORST in North America?
- Meetings planned to address ‘sorriest’ bus stop in Metro Vancouver
“We are in the process of setting up meetings with TransLink and the Coast Mountain Bus company to see what we can do to make the bus stop more adequate.”
The Ministry did not give an exact timeline for when the issue would be addressed but said meetings would take place “in the near future.”
“We’ll be discussing possible options for improving safety either at this particular bus stop location or finding a better alternative to this location – as long as there’s pedestrian connectivity and it’s still convenient for transit users,” the Ministry says.
“We’ll be happy to provide an update after these discussions occur.”
