Seven bus passenger waiting shelters were approved for ordering last week by the Ceres City Council.

Tolar Manufacturing Company, Inc., of Corona, will furnish the seven bus shelters, including solar-powered lighting, benches, map holders, trash receptacles, for a total of $57,165. The total cost of the project with installation and concrete is estimated to cost $90,000, which will be covered entirely by California Prop 1b grant funds that Ceres received specifically for transit capital purposes.

The shelters are to be placed at the following locations:
• In front of the CVS Pharmacy on the north side of Hatch Road at N. Central Avenue;

• On the west side of Mitchell Road north of Alphonse Drive;

• In front of Del Taco on the east side of Mitchell Road north of Whitmore Avenue;

• On the south side of Magnolia Street, mid-block between Fifth and Sixth streets (adjacent to vacant city-owned lot;

• On the east side of Fifth Street north of North Street (adjacent to vacant city-owned lot);

• In front of Burger King on the north side of Hatch Road approximately 725' east of Herndon Road.

City staff members believe that bus shelters might improve ridership on the Ceres Area Transit bus system since passengers can wait for the bus in comfort. The CAT bus route map and timetable will be displayed in the shelter to improve customer access to bus information.

Vice Mayor Mike Kline said he hopes the shelters improve ridership. He said the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) fined the city for failing to meet its fare-box ratio for three consecutive years.

"They took a little bit of revenue away from us for our transportation and so with installing these and putting bus schedules up ... I hope it does increase our ridership and fare-box ratio and it does help us to at least add another route on or expand what we currently do," said Kline. He noted that Ceres had two fixed bus routes but now has one.