In 2018, the City promised Summer Greens residents that they would have permanent bus shelters by 2020. They are still waiting.
Temporary bus stops were set up when the MyCiTi bus service came to Summer Greens in 2016, but by 2018, residents had grown tired of waiting in the rain or blistering sun for a bus, and, in April of that year, the City told them that a consultant would be appointed within weeks, that a detailed design of the new shelters would follow and that construction would start in March 2019 and be finished within a year (“Weather woes for bus commuters,” Tabletalk, April 11, 2018).
There are four MyCiTi stops in Summer Greens. Three have temporary poles and one is permanent. But none of them has shelter or lighting.
The Summer Greens Ratepayers’ Association (SGRA) has accused the City of treating the community differently compared to surrounding neighbourhoods that have bus shelters.
“We need our bus shelters to be completed before the rainy season starts,“ said SGRA chairman Gary Jacobs. ”We have school kids and adults that take these buses. We have mothers with their babies standing in the rain with no cover. Summer Greens is not a slum or a township. MyCiTi has failed our community… We don’t want any more promises. We expect results.“
Shannon Lawrence, who does public relations and marketing for the SGRA, said the issue of the bus shelters had been raised with the City several times over the years.
“Eventually, we received feedback that the putting up of permanent MyCiTi shelters in Summer Greens will commence in January 2021, which didn’t happen.
“Now we’ve received notification that construction will be in September 2023… The surrounding routes like Sanddrift and Joe Slovo have had MyCiTi shelters constructed fairly quickly.
“I have personally stood in howling winds and pouring rain waiting for the 261 bus to Woodbridge Island, and it was not pleasant.”
The City did not respond to emailed questions sent by Tabletalk last week. But in an email thread dated September 2021, provided by the SGRA, the mayoral committee member for transport, Rob Quintas, said: “Permanent shelters for these stops will be constructed by September 2023.”
