The Facts on Bus Stop Accessibility

There seems to be some confusion out there about bus stop accessibility. On Fox-7 last night, it was suggested that Capital Metro is only going to spend half as much money as we used to on upgrading bus stops. Let’s set the record straight.

This year Capital Metro has budgeted and spent about $1 million on bus stop improvements. In each of the previous four years we spent about $750,000 per year. We are currently in the process of developing our budget for fiscal year 2009 which begins in October. In May our staff presented an aggressive bus stop improvement plan to our Board of Directors. If the Board decides to move in this direction, we would spend an additional $3 million per year (or a total of $4 million per year) over the next five years to improve bus stops.

There also was some confusion in the story about when existing bus stops must comply with the newest federal regulations. Again, let’s set the record straight:

According to the November 2006 federal regulation update, "...an existing facility that complies with the old standards does not have to be retrofitted to comply with the new standards. Of course, any future alteration to an existing facility would have to comply with the new standards." You can read the whole thing by clicking here.

The bottom line is that we're not required to upgrade existing stops to the new regulations unless we are making any alterations to the stops. But Capital Metro wants to move forward anyway and bring every stop up to the new standards to provide the best possible service to all of our customers.