Design flaw surfaces in new bus bays

by Wayne Moore - Nov 25, 2009 / 5:00 am CASTANET

Kelowna Transit and the company contracted to build a series of bus bays along Highway 97 are scrambling to try and fix a flaw with the design. Sources alerted Castanet to the flaw, saying the concrete curbs were designed too high, making it impossible for the back door of the double decker buses to open properly. If the curbs are not lowered, the suspension of the double decker buses would have to be raised in order to allow the doors to function properly. Kelowna Transit spokesman, Mike Docherty, acknowledged the problem but says a retro-fit is only one possible solution being considered. "There has already been discussions with the highways people that designed, built and constructed it (tendered it out) in regards to what the problems are and how they are going to be resolved," says Docherty. "We do have on-going meetings with them because none of the stops have been implemented, as a matter of fact one is coming up in December with a resolving to the problem." Docherty says raising the buses is an option, one he terms a minimal cost option.

He says the problem is with the way the door of the bus opens then slides. "What you have is a a rear door action on the bus which goes out and then slides and glides. The only hang up that would be there is if the curb is too high for the rear doors then there would have to be a modification of height to that or a modification to the height of the cement curb." Docherty says the error was picked up before the cement was poured and it was noted to both B.C. Transit, the city and the highways department. "Modification will have to be done. But we don't know to what degree. We only viewed and tested these bus stops when there was cement framing. They have now finalized it so we don't know if that height problem is a continuation or not. From my understanding of it, they were going to do some correction."

He says the important thing is that the flaw was detected before the new stops went into service. "Safety will never be compromised for the customer. Nothing goes into effect until it is operationally safe and sound for both the public and the drivers." According to Docherty, the new bus stops are not scheduled to be implemented until September 2010, the same time as the expansion of the Highway 97 Express.