America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Indianapolis vs. Munhall, Pennsylvania

With today’s match, we’ve now seen half the field of 16 in Streetsblog’s 2017 Sorriest Bus Stop Tournament.

These bus stops are a reflection of the low priority that local government agencies place on safe access and comfortable waiting environments for transit riders. They say a lot about transit agencies and state and city DOTs — as well as our car-centric development patterns. Getting to the bus is one of the most important elements in the transit experience — but the message these bus stops send is that the experience of bus riders doesn’t matter.

Bus stops in Pittsburgh and Chapel Hill are through to the second round so far, with voting still open in yesterday’s southern California contest.

Here are the next two bus stops vying for a good national shaming…

Indianapolis

An anonymous reader submitted this sorry bus stop:

Located at Guion Rd and the intersection with 38th St/I-65 in Indianapolis. 38th Street has a 55 mph speed limit, runs adjacent to I-65. The stop has no benches, no concrete or asphalt pad, no sidewalk, no shade or shelter, nor is there a possibility for a stop in the opposite direction. The stop, however, is used, as evidenced by desire lines from repeated use.

Agencies responsible: IndyGo, Indiana DOT.

Munhall, Pennsylvania

This nomination comes from historian Peter Norton, author of Fighting Traffic. What are you supposed to do once the bus drops you off on a slope between a guardrail and train tracks? How do people walk here? At least there’s a little gap to pass through so you don’t have to straddle the guardrail every time you board the bus.

The location is more central than it looks. It’s directly across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, about seven miles from Carnegie Mellon University.

Agencies responsible: Borough of Munhall, Port Authority of Allegheny County.

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