Two Etobicoke shelters, one missing glass, another just missing

Thestar.com
Feb 4, 2019
Jack Lakey

Here’s a tale of two transit shelters, and it’s a sad story for riders who’d like to get out of the weather while waiting for the bus.

After our column last Monday about a Scarborough transit shelter missing several glass panels, we heard from Etobicoke readers about problems with shelters in their neck of the woods.
A transit shelter on the north side of Dixon Rd., just east of Highway 401, has only one pane of glass and an advertising panel, leaving people waiting for the bus with almost no protection.

In the that’s-nothing department, Matty Yeh told us about a shelter on the north side of Dixon Rd., just east of Highway 401, that has just one lonely pane of glass and an ad panel.

Yeh asked us to “work your magic” on the shelter, adding that “it too has been missing panels since at least the summer.”

We went there the day after the big snowstorm last week and found a shelter that has a roof but not much else. Even calling it a shelter is a nose-stretcher.

A Google Street View image shot last September shows that the glass walls were missing at the time.

Rod Rogers sent us a note about a shelter that stood in front of an apartment building at 80 Coe Hill Dr., near Windermere Ave. and The Queensway, saying it was taken last summer for sidewalk replacement.

“The work was completed by mid-September and there is still no bus shelter,” said Rogers.

With winter settled in and not going away any time soon, a shelter with four walls to break the wind and keep out the snow is value-added for TTC riders waiting for a bus.

Who can blame people who depend on these two shelters for crying about the state of affairs? Especially when the frigid February wind is howling in their faces, bringing tears to their eyes.

STATUS: Eric Holmes, a spokesperson for transportation services, emailed to say “staff are aware of the missing windows” at the Dixon shelter, and are working with Astral Out of Home, the city’s street furniture partner, “to have them replaced as soon as possible.” On the Coe Hill shelter, Holmes said “a private contractor was performing work and needed to remove the shelter for safety reasons. The cement pad on which the shelter sits was damaged during the work, he said, “which prevents the shelter from being returned until the pad is repaired.” A new concrete pad can’t be poured until the weather warms up, he said, so the shelter will remain absent for now.