Council hears Valley Transit data on bus shelter costs and ridership drop; shelters not justified under current thresholds

A council member renewed a request on June 10, 2025, for shaded bus stops in College Place to protect riders from heat. Valley Transit staff responded that shelters cost approximately $13,000 each and that current ridership levels and agency thresholds do not justify additional shelters in the city.

The council member said many riders—children and older adults—wait for buses in the heat and asked whether state or grant funding might be available for shelters. Staff replied that Valley Transit manages routes and shelter placement; staff and a Valley Transit representative noted any shelter installation must meet the transit agency’s Title 6 plan thresholds for placement.

“They are about $13,000 a piece,” the Valley Transit representative said. The representative added that a route change rolled out in March reduced College Place ridership by roughly half to date, which reduced eligibility under the agency’s placement criteria: “thus far, that has actually reduced College Place's ridership by 50%. So we're not we're not heading in the right direction to justify shelters.”

The mayor and staff said they would pass the council’s request to Valley Transit and follow up. The Valley Transit representative said the city’s current stops that have shelters already exceed the agency’s thresholds for shelter placement under its Title 6 plan, and that adding new shelters now would conflict with those standards unless ridership increases.

No funding decision or new shelter installations were approved; staff will convey the council’s concerns to Valley Transit for further consideration.