1,400 NYC Bus Shelters Shut Down Due To Corrosion Risk
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – More than one thousand bus shelters across the city are being closed off for safety inspections.
It's an unsettling site – bus stop after bus stop wrapped in yellow caution tape all across the five boroughs.
The shelters don't have any obvious signs of damage, just a note on the glass instructing riders to stay out. Some barely even have that as the tape has already been ripped down and warning notes crumpled.
"I didn't know what could happen it didn't seem like something was wrong with it," bus driver Max Mencin told CBS2's Ali Bauman.
Of the 3,500 bus shelters in New York City, 1,400 are currently closed for safety inspections.
A company called JCDecaux operates all the bus stops and said corroded bolts on the roof of a Staten Island shelter caused it to partially collapse earlier this month. The company began inspecting all bus stops that are at least six-years-old.
JCDecaux says of the first one thousand bus stops inspected, 30 of them had corrosion.
After that, the company decided it was best to shut down the remaining bus stops in line to be inspected until they can know for sure those are safe.
"Well I'm surprised they're doing this at all because I've never seen them do this," commuter Kathleen Williams said.
Buses are still picking up passengers, but it's unclear how long the bolts had been corroded.
"I became aware of this this afternoon," Transit Authority CEO Andy Byford claimed. "We want to make sure our bus stops are safe for our customers. If there was any question of a stop being safe we wouldn't use it."
The company says most stops should be back open in a week.
