San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)

Muni may replace shelter glass with bars

- By Ricardo Cano Ricardo Cano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ricardo.cano@sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @ByRicardoC­ano

Muni bus shelters encased with glass panels could become a thing of the past as San Francisco transit officials try to curtail endemic vandalism at bus stops and rail platforms.

Across the city, bus shelters, the canopied places where people congregate while waiting for service, are littered with glass shards, trash and graffiti.

According to the Municipal Transporta­tion Agency, replacing the broken glass panels after someone smashes them are the most costly and labor-intensive repairs to make at Muni transit stops.

There’s currently a 75-day backlog in repair requests at Muni stops.

So, transit officials are trying a different approach by replacing glass panels at some of the hardest-hit locations — on Market Street, in the Tenderloin and Mission District — with metal bars.

While the current bus shelters have bench seats with a glass panel behind them, the new designs will replace those back walls with metal bars at the benches. The metal bus shelters will retain their roofs.

It’s unclear how many of the city’s 1,200 Muni bus shelters will make the cosmetic change. But some agency board directors have voiced support for getting rid of glass panels altogether, considerin­g the cost and time it takes to replace broken panels and how often they get vandalized.

The SFMTA has spent $800,000 to replace glass panels at Muni shelters in most dire need of a “refresh,” said acting Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Rewers. The repairs would happen next year.

As part of a renegotiat­ed contract extension with Clear Channel, MTA will get less money from the company that cleans and maintains Muni’s bus shelters. The new contract runs through early 2028. In exchange, Clear Channel will increase its bus shelter maintenanc­e

“It just doesn’t seem to be sustainabl­e to continue to replace this broken glass

over and over again.”

Lisa Ising, MTA’s superinten­dent of bus shelters and rail platforms

by 50%, to three days a week. Agency officials said they’ve also reshuffled their staffing to repair vandalized bus shelters faster.

But officials also acknowledg­ed the financial toll it takes to replace broken glass panels at shelters — repairs that can take up to 45 days to complete.

“At the end of the day, it’s extraordin­arily expensive to continue to replace this broken glass,” said Lisa Ising, the agency’s superinten­dent of bus shelters and rail platforms.

While “it’s not the most attractive thing” to see metal bars encasing Muni bus shelters, it helps minimize the risk of vandalism and could break the seemingly endless cycle of repairs at bus stops, she said.

“It just doesn’t seem to be sustainabl­e to continue to replace this broken glass over and over

again,” Ising said.

Board Director Steve Heminger said the change in bus shelter material is overdue and should be expanded citywide.

“I think we’re fighting a losing battle,” Heminger said. “If it were up to me, I’d take the glass out of every damn shelter in the city because they’re all going to get busted into by some knucklehea­d sooner or later.”

Manny Yekutiel, a MTA board director who successful­ly lobbied the agency to more quickly assess which bus shelters are in most dire need of repairs, said cleaner bus shelters and faster repairs are important for Muni’s recovery.

Muni ridership tanked during

the pandemic and is currently at about 70% of pre-COVID levels. Yekutiel and Board Director Stephanie Cajina lamented at the snaillike pace it’s taken to repair vandalized bus shelters they’ve reported to 311. In one instance, Cajina said it took 1,020 days to repair a tore-up shelter she reported.

“Our city needs to reflect where we are right now,” Yekutiel said. “We need to attract business back, customers back and restore trust in people who take our system.”

 ?? Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2018 ?? Glass panels might become a thing of the past in Muni transit shelters, given the rates of vandalism and expensive repair costs.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2018 Glass panels might become a thing of the past in Muni transit shelters, given the rates of vandalism and expensive repair costs.

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