Butte bus riders will have problem with new transit center, Part two
In this morning's dispatches was one from Chico Capital Projects, which is supervising construction of the new transit center on Second Street between Salem and Normal. According to Jeff Jukkola, the professional engineer who overlooks the project, the county buses that park on these side streets will be afforded no protection for their passengers.
Jukkola pointed out that this project has been in the works for eight years, well before Chico Area Transit Service was unified with Butte County Transit. At that time the county buses parked by the park on First Street. It was only after all the bus services were unified by Butte County Area Governments that the county buses that go to Oroville and Paradise were moved to their present parking slots on Salem and Normal.
As of last Wednesday, plans were changed so that benches would be set up for county passengers. To do more will require a major commitment of money and resources from the city of Chico. Jukkola estimates that the two satellite buildings would require absorbing seven more parking spaces, and an estimated cost of $135,000. The satellite structures would take another month to build.
Not only have the plans been changed for benches, but in the original blueprints there was a ticket office where passengers could paper tickets. That became obsolete on August 27 when B-Line put electronic fare boxes in all their buses. The current structure will have solar panels on the roof which will provide electricity for the lights of the center and the parking lot.
As of now there is no indication from the city of how they feel about this oversight. There will be more posted here when they respond.