Fort Mcmurray plans to turn up the heat in 300 bus shelters

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo wants 300 heated bus shelters in place across Fort McMurray by the end of this year in a bid to lure city commuters and oilsands workers out of their cars.

The municipality’s transit services department has already installed about 140 glass-enclosed shelters around the city.

“It’s a complete radical redesign,” said Dale D’Arcy, program manager for transit services. “There’s a door on it that will keep the heat in and it’s a fully glass shelter so that when you walk inside you press a button where there’s a heater up in the ceiling that engages and turns on for 10 minutes to heat up the shelter itself.”

The heater shuts off after 10 minutes and can only be activated when the temperature is below freezing. D’Arcy said the municipality continues to deal with heavy traffic, particularly on Highway 63. The shelters will be used by both public transit and industry busses.

“We’re trying to encourage as many oilsands companies to utilize public transit routes so it can allow a lot of larger vehicles to get off tighter residential streets. By putting in heated shelters throughout the entire city, it allows us to meet the needs of oilsands workers and commuters within the city itself,” he said.

D’Arcy said the total budget for the bus shelter retrofit is $9 million, which was set two years ago. The budget includes work such as changing roadways and sidewalks.