Bus Shelter in Tamarac on University Drive and Southgate. Tamarac residents need much more of these.
Why aren’t more people using public transportation in Tamarac? With gas prices at their highest in years, riding a bus is still not an option that many people will choose. Unlike other major cities in the United States, using a Broward County bus is not a dignified experience. One of the biggest problem are the bus stops. Many stops in Tamarac have no benches, lighting or shelters, leaving riders to stand by a yellow pole When daylight savings ends, evenings become a safety hazard while riders wait in the dark.
On a typical rainy day, Tamarac residents must face the elements when waiting for a Broward County Transit bus
There are several bus shelters along University Drive in Tamarac, however, along busy Commercial Boulevard there is only one shelter and a few benches from Pine Island in the west to 441 in the east. According to Jennifer Bramley, Director of Community Development, Tamarac will soon be getting 16 new shelters through a county grant program. Five of them are replacements for older ones, three will be located near 441 and Commercial, and one will be further east on Commercial and NW 31 Ave.. The eleven new shelters will not be placed anywhere west of 441 on Commercial Boulevard because Broward County Transit says that these stops do not have a high enough capacity of riders. BCT should realize that if they provide more shelters near the homes and businesses along Commercial Boulevard, more people would use public transportation.
Routes 57 and 55 are the bus routes that travel east and west on Commercial Boulevard. On rainy days, conditions at the bus stops are deplorable for riders who must stand and wait. The stops are set so close to the street that riders must stand far away from the roadways to avoid getting sprayed with water. Each bus is scheduled every 30 minutes for these routes, so waiting for a bus in Tamarac is an outright degrading experience.
Jonathan Roberson, Senior Planner at Broward County Transit (BCT) says one of their objectives is to grow ridership and revenue. They can do this by providing safe and attractive shelters along their routes. I say build them and more riders will come.
