Several highway bus stops are getting lights installed as part of a pilot project funded by the Regional District of Central Kootenay and the Ministry of Transportation.
Fifteen stops will have solar-powered LED lights installed along the North Shore (Route 10), Slocan Valley (Route 20) and between Nelson and Castlegar (Route 99).
Randy Matheson, a research analyst with the RDCK, said the lights come with a button that can be pressed to illuminate the stop at night.
“The route driver will see riders a little better and we’ll have less missed stops than we had before,” he said. “Because sometimes people are standing off to the side of the road, sometimes the bus driver won’t see them. It’s a pilot project we’re going to try and if it works we’ll expand on it.”
Matheson said the lights cost between $2,000 to $2,500 each and that the installation, which has already begun, should be finished by the end of September.