Above is a photo of one of four heated bus shelters that the City of Regina is in the process of rolling out on 11th Ave. Not all are operational yet, but the plan is to have them up and running by February.
I didn’t make it out for the gala announcement this morning, but according to a City of Regina press release the shelters are electrically powered. As it grows dark each night, lights will come on to illuminate the shelter interiors. There’s also a radiant heater in the ceiling that can be activated with a push of a button. Once activated, it will stay on for around five minutes.
Two shelters — one on 11th Ave between Lorne and Cornwall St. (pictured) and the other between Cornwall and Scarth by the Bank of Montreal — will service east-bound transit users. West-bound transit users will be serviced by shelters located between Scarth and Lorne by the transit office and the SGI building.
The plan is to test them for a year and see how they work out. If they are deemed useful, heated shelters could be installed at other high-traffic transit stops.
Regina Transit also announced the launch of a new transit planning tool tied to Google maps. It’s meant to complement the Transit Live app which shows the location of buses on routes. The Google maps app will help transit users plan trips to different areas of the city. You can find out more about Transit Live and the trip planner here.
