LTC to install solar lights at 150 bus stops | News | westerngazette.ca

Nov 07, 2024

News Editor

A bus stop on campus, Oct. 16, 2021.

The LTC is installing solar lights at 150 London bus stops to increase visibility in low-light conditions by the end of 2024.

In a statement Thursday, the London Transit Commission said the lights will illuminate at bus stops when a button is pressed and are meant to “provide a greater sense of safety and security while waiting for the bus.”

Once the button is pressed, the light will stay on for approximately five minutes. It can be reactivated by pressing the button again when time runs out.

“These lights will help make dark bus stop areas more visible for bus operators,” wrote the LTC.

In a statement to the Gazette, the LTC said the total budget for the project, including installation, is $585,000 with 73.3 per cent of the budget funded by the provincial and federal governments.

The LTC added the equipment contract for lights was awarded in 2023, and the installation contract for those lights was awarded in early 2024.

Kole Miller, a first-year BMOS student at Huron University College, said while he doesn’t take the bus at night, he knows other students who do and believes the lights will benefit them.

“I keep hearing it can get a bit sketchy at night, especially with a lot of people scared walking to bus stops, so I think the lights are good,” he said.

Miller added that increased visibility at night is important considering “the time change and it getting darker early and for longer.”

Mackenzie Kerr, a fourth-year anthropology and theatre studies student, said she doesn’t feel unsafe at bus stops because there’s “usually a lot of students there.”

But she still sees the lights as a positive addition.

Kerr pointed out the bus stop near the former Brescia University College campus on Sarnia Road is really dark at night and could benefit from added lighting.

The LTC said the installations will be completed by the end of 2024.

News Editor