Bus users catch a break with shelter

HELPING OUT: The owner of the Challenge Petrol Station in Greytown is behind a new bus shelter for passengers. PHOTO/ANDREW BONALLACK

A new shelter will be installed at a Greytown bus stop after the owner of a petrol station next to the stop got tired of seeing people miss the bus.

Mitchell Simmonds has asked Greater Wellington Regional Council to put in a bus shelter at the Humphries St bus stop, which is on the corner of Main St.

He said people waiting for the bus, which would take them to the Woodside train station, would shelter under an awning on the side of his garage during wet weather.

"The bus whips around the corner and they're standing under our canopy and they may be looking down at their phone or something and the bus keeps going."

Mr Simmonds, who bought the Challenge Petrol Station in Greytown in September last year has, on occasion, dropped people who missed the bus to the train station himself.

He said it was just a short drive to the station and he "didn't want to leave someone hanging".

Since purchasing the garage, Mr Simmonds has expanded it to two-and-a-half times its original size and has added a car park.

"When we took over the business one of the things we wanted to do was get a bus shelter in for the customers.

"It was just part of the upgrade and... saves them from standing out in the rain."

Mr Simmonds said he was trying to make the station "look as Greytown as possible" and the renovations were close to being finished.

A bullnose verandah and a facade had been added to the building and the mono-pitched "very 70s and quite ugly" roof had been cut off.

The outside of the building would blend in well to the rest of the town, Mr Simmonds said.

A barista will start in the next few weeks making fresh coffee and Lotto facilities had recently been introduced.

Mr Simmonds said getting the bus shelter put in was "something that we could do for the community".

"It's no major cost to us, it's a small parcel of land that we are giving up."

Corryn Elliott, assets advisor for GWRC, said the shelter was likely to be installed before the end of November.

"We have a few shelters going in around the region and that is one we have prioritised to get in soon," she said.