Bus shelters being inspected after collapse

From AMNY:

About 1,400 bus shelters across the city have been shut down for safety inspections after one collapsed earlier this month in Staten Island.

JCDecaux, which operates all of the city’s 3,500 bus shelters, discovered bolts in the Staten Island shelter that appeared to be corroded, according to company spokesperson George Arzt. No one was injured when the glass and metal shelter collapsed on Oct. 5, Arzt said.

About 3 percent of the first 1,000 shelters inspected revealed corrosion in bolts. He said those have been repaired and reopened.

Back in 2005, the city selected Cemusa to build and maintain street furniture including bus shelters and newsstands. JCDecaux acquired Cemusa several years ago.

The company is initially focusing on the first generation of shelters, but all 3,500 will be reviewed.

Public toilets sit unused in warehouse for 10 years

From CBS 2:

If you are looking for a public restroom in New York City, you will find a dozen of them by walking down an off-the-beaten-track lane toward a warehouse in an industrial section of Maspeth, Queens. They are automatic and self-cleaning, and they have been sitting there unused for about a decade.

The public toilets are operated, or should be, by the JCDecaux company of France. But currently, there are only four of them installed on the streets of the city, and the one CBS2 found at Corona Plaza in Queens was not even working on Friday.

You'll just have to hold it

From the Queens Chronicle:

Eight years and holding. That’s a long time to wait for a bathroom, but that’s just what’s happening in Downtown Flushing.

In 2007, the city signed an agreement with Cemusa, a Spanish company, to build and maintain 20 automatic public toilets around the city. Flushing was to get one of two planned for Queens.

The other one for the borough, in Corona Plaza, was erected in 2008. Nothing was heard again about the Flushing site, in Lippman Plaza, a pedestrian connector for Roosevelt Avenue and 39th Avenue.

Marilyn Bitterman, district manager of Community Board 7, said she had received no updates on the project since CB 7 and then-Councilman John Liu requested it in 2007.

The public facility was also lobbied for by the Flushing Business Improvement District. Current BID Executive Director Dian Yu, when contacted by the Chronicle, had never heard of the toilet and was interested in more information. “I would like to know more about it because we do need a public facility in Downtown Flushing,” Yu said. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

According to officials at the Department of Transportation, which handles all street furniture such as toilets, newsstands and bus shelters, the Flushing site was approved but there have been delays, though no specifics were given by the DOT.

Cemusa, DSNY not cleaning bus stops

"Hi Crappie, I don't know how it is in other parts of Queens but the bus stops on Grand Ave. in Maspeth have not been cleared since the first snowfall and are all ice making getting on and off the bus very tricky.

You just ran a story about Sen. Avella wants to make the Sanitation Dept.be responsible for clearing snow from fire hydrants but who is responsible for bus stops? the city or building owners?" - anonymous

The answer:

"CEMUSA is responsible for removing snow at the bus shelters. CEMUSA must remove snow from the end of the bus shelters and three feet around them."

Agencies responsible for snow removal:
• Department of Sanitation – crosswalks, bus stops without shelters, roads, and pedestrian ramps
• Department of Parks – sidewalks and crosswalks near and in parks
• Department of Transportation – bridges and overpasses
• CEMUSA – bus shelters
• MTA – entrances to subways

Don't walk next to a bus shelter in February!

Somehow I don't think they had NYC winters in mind when they designed these bus shelters with the slanted roofs.

Polly want a crapper?

From Capital New York:

Transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg firmly believes New Yorkers need more in the way of public lavatories than the city's Starbucks, hotel lobbies and McDonald's can provide.

Today, during a City Council hearing on the transportation department's budget, Trottenberg said she's not giving up on a Bloomberg-era plan to install 20 public toilets in New York City.

"I think we really need to get that done and it's something we’re going to focus on," she told the Council.

“One thing I’m certainly interested in is getting the rest of the public bathrooms that are in the contract up and built," she said. "And I’ve actually asked our team at D.O.T. to figure out how we expedite that."

Cemusa bus shelters causing injury

Above is a photo of a Cemusa bus shelter bench in Fresh Meadows. Note that the shelters are new.

To Whom It May Concern:

There are 3300 Cemusa bus shelters and the information below applies to all of them. There are over 80 personal injury cases in Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn. The court papers are available for public to review. DOT and NYC Comptroller's office have a database for personal injuries that are related to Cemusa bus shelters.

I learned from FOIL documents that there were over 80 personal injury cases related to Cemusa's bus stop shelters against the New York City and DOT. Many of the injuries are due to shattering or falling components of the bus stops including large glass panels. Some of these panels weight more than 300 lb. As I have reported to DOT, Cemusa was aware of the defects. New York City should not be the responsible party in these suits in my opinion. Cemusa was given enough time to correct these deviations and repair these defective bus stops. Too many corners were cut without the knowledge of any professional engineer during the manufacturing and installation of these bus shelters. There was no oversight.

I wish that NY City would take action soon to prevent other personal injuries that may occur around Cemusa bus shelters.

Jen Bolay

City forgets Willets Point again

Cemusa needs to get with the shoveling program

From Fox 5:

There is a contract controversy between New York City and the company that is supposed to clean the snow from local bus stops.

The city has a contract with a company that builds and maintains bus stops. The company pays the city for the rights to supply the shelters and earn advertising dollars in return. But part of the contract includes snow removal, but the snow keeps piling up in front of many bus stops.

Several feet of snow barricade the bus shelter, not just in Queens, but at bus stops across the city. It's a situation that' not just dangerous. It's in violation of the city's contract with a company that has a contract for the bus shelters. One city councilman is calling on the company to do its job or face a formal inquiry.

Domenic Recchia says, "I believe millions could be refunded back to the city because they're not living up to their contract, but more importantly, who is overseeing it, what's going on, and maybe they don't want the contract anymore."

According to the contract, the company is supposed to shovel three feet around the bus shelters to people can get to the bus. Footprints show where people have to make a path through the snow, just to get to where they're going. It's been a common complaint at the city's blizzard hearings. They're supposed to clear shelters within four hours after the snow stops. But time and again, they have failed.

The company could be found in breach of contract with the city. The contract earns the city $1.4 billion.

"Great" design idea for Cemusa bus shelters

"A lot of glass to break, with a glass roof too...which provides no shade from the blistering sun.

This one is located at 39th Ave. and Union St. in downtown Flushing.

The previous bus shelter designs were better and stronger too.

Then why did NYC insist on replacing them?

Did some official owe a friend at "Cemusa" a favor...perhaps in return for a hefty campaign contribution?" - The Flushing Phantom