The annual bus stop maintenance budget has already been overspent, just four months into the financial year. Photo / Supplied
The annual bus stop maintenance budget has already been overspent, just four months into the financial year. Photo / Supplied
A drive to replace old wooden bus shelters with new modern glass versions has hit a stumbling block and the community is being asked to help.
Vandals are smashing the safety glass panels, leaving the Hastings District Council with much increased maintenance costs.
The annual bus stop maintenance budget hasalready been overspent, just four months into the financial year.
Three of the district's 36 glass shelters are particular targets, one in Heretaunga St West, one on Peterhead Avenue and one in Flaxmere Ave. HDC has spent over $20,000 repairing the Peterhead bus stop since 2015.
The options are to use some other kind of material to close them in, or to remove the shelters and just have bus stops.
Other materials for the sides could include mesh (which won't keep the wind out, or heavy plastic which marks easily and can become difficult to see through).
"Neither of those options are good, particularly for our elder users and mums with little ones, and both are ugly," said Hastings District councillor Henare O'Keefe.
"We really need people to keep an eye on these shelters which keep members of our community who use buses out of the wind and sun. Wrecking them is an attack on our communities.
"If you suspect someone you know is doing this damage, please sit them down and explain that their real victims are their grandparents, aunts and cousins who use buses, and their parents who are helping to pay to clean up their mess."
