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Have the city install a timer to turn off the heat 30 minutes before the buses stop running. By the time the homeless go in there it should have cooled down enough to not be a safe haven. Also installing brighter lights should make it safer and unpleasant enought to not want to sleep in there.

Yes, I also would prefer to think about the homeless people freezing to death outside than to suffer the slight discomfort of strange smells when I wait for the bus.

The heat has been turned off in this bus shelter. Town Green has approached the business behind the bus stop to clean up their patio area on their side of the black fence behind the bus shelter and the Clean team cleans this bus shelter no less than twice a day. Please continue to report problems if/when you see them.

Win

Is filled w trash and smells like urine. Who is supposed to keep these clean?

TT&P?

Town Green?

Town Green addresses this issue almost daily with deodorizer for the stench, we power-steam clean this bus stop weekly when the temperature allows, our clean team cleans inside this bus shelter 7days a week with a pan and broom and our safety ambassadors do "wake-ups" of these people first thing in the morning every day. These people know our schedule and inhabit the shelter right after our Ambassador night shift ends. Town Green is in favor of redesigning this bus stop, the 55 Church Street shelters and the Shelter at the corner of Elm and Temple Street. They all have the same issues.

-Win

Thanks Win,
What would the design be looking to tackle? Less comfortable sleeping areas? Maybe the SCF users could help with design suggestions.

This stop seems like more of a problem than the others. I think it is because it is more sheltered and darker at night than the other heated shelters. Lighting would probably be one solution.

More lighting is certainly helpful toward discouraging sleeping in the shelter.

A few more thoughts:

The fact that the shelter is fully enclosed makes it feel private and lends itself to being used as a bathroom, living room and sleeping area. Better sight lines into the bus shelter at the Kelly house would help....the wide concrete columns on each side of the shelter and the full glass and steel front obscure the view into the shelter until you are in front of it and It can be intimidating for people walking on the sidewalk not knowing if there are people in the shelter.

Seating that will easily allow for sleeping would help. I think of the narrow, rotating seats I've seen in San Franciso: http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/1566-0151717

Most of our shelters downtown are at most 3-sided and we don't have nearly as many maintenance problems.

Town Green would like to get this issue resolved as these shelters require a disproportionate amount of our resources.

-Win

I meant, seating that will NOT allow for easy sleeping... my apologies.

-Win

Is there any way to lock it after the buses stop running? Perhaps at the end of the night there should be a shuttle bus to the homeless shelter.

I hate to think of forcing people out into the cold, but having homeless people live in the bus shelter inhibits others from using them and casts a pall on public transportation in general. If we can't provide basic, safe and warm accommodation for the poorest among us, then shame on us as a society.

A lock would require some expensive work to install doors/gates that the City doesn't have in their budget. I've had the same thought and asked the question about limiting access.

I don't believe New Haven deserves any shame for our efforts in providing services for people in crisis. Our Ambassadors and our street outreach and engagement worker have found that most of the people using these bus shelters as an encampment choose to do so because they prefer not to follow the rules of our shelters and other programs in favor of partaking in drinking and other illegal activities.