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Selling the shelters
A proposed Fairfax County program to pay for additional bus shelters by allowing a contractor to sell advertising on the shelters has brought several local citizens associations into conflict with advocacy groups for the disabled.
“For those that would say they don't want advertising on bus shelters, the most important thing is that there be equity and access to the public transport system that our tax dollars pay for,” said Doris Ray, of the Long Term Care Coordinating Council, speaking at a hearing on the proposal Saturday.
“The county should not enter into something like this. This is not the way to do it,” said Carol Hawn of the Western Fairfax County Citizens Association.
“When you're trying to get something for nothing, it rarely works out,” said Mark Zetts, of the McLean Citizens Association.
In the first wave of the proposed program, a private company selected by a bidding process would improve or construct shelters at 110 proposed bus stops, providing curb cuts, improved sidewalk access and maintenance, all at no cost to Fairfax County. The contractor would turn a profit from the revenue generated by the bus stop advertisements, some of which would go to the county. Between that revenue and savings, planners project that the county would profit by over $700,000 a year from the program.
According to Fairfax County bus stop coordinator Paul Mounier, the program would be a vast improvement for Fairfax's bus stops. According to Mounier, only 7 percent of the county's bus stops currently have shelters, many of which are in poor repair or have poor access.
“Accessibility is our biggest challenge. ... There were some stops our engineering team even had trouble getting to,” Mounier said.
Those access issues go right to the heart of the problem for disability groups like Ray's.
“These people have no option other than public transportation,” said Anne Pimly, of the Disability Services Board. Pimly is herself blind, and said that proper paths and shelter make all the difference for disabled and elderly bus users, many of whom depend on the transit system to get around.
Patrica Whitenour, a disabled Fairfax resident said that she had been nearly struck by cars twice while waiting at unsafe bus stops.
“There's no way for people who can't see to get on the bus. They will get killed or hurt very bad,” Whitenour said.
The MCA and the WFCCA both passed resolutions opposing the program, which they say is an inappropriate solution to the problem.
'This is a big problem, and the county should pay for those shelters out of the general fund, not through a commercial agreement,” Zetts said.
The MCA resolution offered support of the project if individual areas were allowed to opt out. The citizens groups are concerned about possibly inappropriate advertisements, safety issues created by obstructed views and how the countywide project will affect existing, locally funded bus shelters.
“We have to have a program that will allow the contractor to recoup their capital costs,” said Rollo Axton, Fairfax County transit chief.
A zoning amendment to allow the advertising program is scheduled to come before the Planning Commission on April 23, but Commissioner Walter Alcorn said he would ask the planning commission to delay that vote.
“Clearly there's some things to work out,” Alcorn said.
Further details of the bus shelter advertising program are available at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/bus_shelter_advertising.htm
email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com
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