AC Transit riders get to keep bus shelters after Oakland backs off plan to remove them

When the winter rains arrive, Oakland public transit riders will find shelter once again at their bus stops. But that’s only because the city’s Transportation Department agreed to postpone a plan to remove 100 bus shelters.

Josh Rowan, Transportation Department director, also agreed to work on alternatives with AC Transit.

Riders complained and some accused the city of being against homeless people after Michael Ford, the city’s transportation parking director, proposed removing the shelters at an Oakland/AC Transit Interagency Liaison Committee meeting this month. Transportation leaders said existing structures are potentially dangerous and expensive to maintain. 

Ford said the shelters — primarily made of glass to bring in advertising revenue — are repeatedly vandalized and pose a threat to riders and drivers who often crash into the glass shields, reducing them to shards.

“We had a situation last week, there was a vehicle that plowed into one of the shelters,” he said.

Ford said the plan was “in the best interest of the public,” adding that the advertising program no longer made a profit. OakDOT said it could still maintain 100 benches at bus tops, but without overhead shelters. 

The proposal to remove the shelters got instant pushback from transportation advocates who said OakDOT’s plans didn’t consider the harsh implications on riders.

Alex Contreras, a member of the statewide Interagency Equity Advisory Committee, said, “Removing them entirely will remove what little shelter that many rely and depend on.”

While there might be an aesthetic concern with the defacing of shelters, health and comfort is more important, said Carter Lavin, co-founder of the Transbay Coalition, a transit advocacy group that has campaigned to save the shelters.

It will cost the city an estimated $500,000 to maintain the shelters. Ford said the department could use half that amount to dismantle the structures in about a month. 

Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who chaired the committee, advised AC Transit and OakDOT leadership to consider putting the $250,000 it would have cost to dismantle the shelters toward maintaining them and washing the sidewalks. She also asked them to develop an alternative that considered both riders and the budget.

Jasmine Licea-Orozco, a 17-year-old high school student who takes the bus at least four times every week, said dismantling the shelters would affect students like her, who sit in the shelters while waiting for the bus to school. 

Tom Connor, 80, sees the proposal to remove the shelters as an “anti-homelessness gesture” by the city. “They don’t want them sleeping or sitting there,” he said, as he walked his dog by makeshift shelters along Lake Merritt. 

Some suggested a hybrid plan to have shelters at some stops and just benches at others. Noah Cirella, 65, who just returned from a visit to Japan, said the glass can be replaced with more durable material, as seen in other cities. He also said Oakland should try to improve the shelters by adding heaters at some stops.

BART using federal loan to build new police headquarters in Oakland