A new heated bus shelter has been installed at the bus stop near the University Centre at Carleton.
The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) has been working in conjunction with Capital Renewal and Construction Services at Carleton since 2016 to complete the project.
“Students came to us asking for us to improve that situation and so our role was to advocate on behalf of students to the university to expand it and make it better,” CUSA president Zameer Masjedee said.
According to Trevor Stewart, director of Capital Renewal and Construction Services, the total budget for the shelter was $220,000. Stewart explained that in 2013, some heaters were installed in the old bus shelter, but were later vandalized and could not be used.
“This is one of the most used bus stops that we currently have so there have been attempts to enlarge it,” he said.
According to Stewart and Masjedee, the university fully funded the project. Masjedee said the reason for the high cost is because the shelter was custom-built.
Bhavna Kochhar, a third-year commerce student, is one student who is happy to have a place to keep warm while waiting for buses as the temperature continues to drop.
“Bottom line, I am standing out there freezing in like -15 [degrees], and that’s not something that’s ideal. It will be super nice to be standing in there waiting for OC Transpo buses to show up on time for once,” Kochhar said.
Other students have expressed disapproval on Facebook regarding the design of the bus shelter and its lack of doors.
Emily Killeen, a second-year biology student at Carleton, said via Facebook that she is unhappy with the bus shelter because it doesn’t have doors. Because of this, she said the heaters will cost the university more money and harm the environment as they will need to run constantly to compete with the cold coming through the openings.
“It’s a heated shelter, I would expect there to be doors to trap in the heat and warm it up,” Killeen said. “I know they did this to make it wheelchair accessible, but they could just put automated doors like at Hurdman.”
Killeen said she plans to create a petition if no doors are added to the shelter.
According to Masjedee, doors are an accessibility issue. He added that they won’t be needed because the shelter uses infrared heaters.
“It does make you feel warmer when you stand under it,” he said.
Stewart said that Carleton is in talks with the City of Ottawa about how to optimize bus efficiency on campus.
“This may mean relocating some of our bus stops, and in doing so we’ll ensure that our shelters are large enough and, if needed, provide the amenities that people want today as opposed to standing freezing in the cold and rain,” Stewart said.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
