BAYSWATER pensioners will continue to wilt in the heat and get soaked in the rain, after the Barnett government refused their requests for shaded bus shelters.
Elderly shoppers want a shelter at the stop on Eighth Avenue, beside the Maylands Town Hall, while the residents’ committee at Mertome retirement village want a shelter at nearby Avenell Road, so they can sit in the shade while waiting for a new twice-daily bus service.
Leslie Wojcik, 73, says sometimes it gets so hot at the Eighth Avenue stop she has to seek shade in a nearby telephone booth.
“My elderly friends and I use the bus stop all the time, mostly when we come back from grocery shopping on Eighth Avenue or visit the library at The Rise or the Maylands Senior Citizens Centre,” she says.
“We’ve petitioned the city on a number of occasions to get a shaded bus shelter but we haven’t had any luck.
“We’ve petitioned the city on a number of occasions to get a shaded bus shelter but we haven’t had any luck.”
“My local councillor Sylvan Albert said he would get a shelter put in, but since he’s become mayor I haven’t seen anything done.”
The public transport authority rejected a funding request from the council saying not enough people use the service on Eighth Avenue and patronage figures for the new Avenell Road service are not available yet.
Council voted against spending $25,000 on two new shelters, with council staff also citing low usage.
Mayor Albert says a bus shelter for pensioners is not at the top of the priority list.
“Due to cost constraints it is not possible for the city to provide a bus shelter at all of the bus stops within the city,” he says.
“Accordingly requests for bus shelters and the maintenance of existing shelters, needs to be considered on a priority basis.”
Instead, the council will install a bench at the Avenell Road bus stop and spend $20,000 tranforming existing concrete bus shelters to steel.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK
Perth Voice Interactive 
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