Burnaby council approved two contracts for approximately $940,000 for 60 bus shelters in the city.
Enseicom Inc. received a $577,833 contract for the city's new "signature shelters," which will be installed at high-traffic and town centre sites, according to a staff report.
Tolar Manufacturing Company was granted a $360,640 contract for its smaller bus shelters, to be installed at locations based on transit ridership priorities, according to the report.
The shelters are replacing those removed by Pattison Outdoor after the city chose not to renew its contract with the company last year, according to the city's director of engineering, Lambert Chu.
There may be slight location changes with the new shelters, based on ridership requirements, but those would be minor, he added.
Pattison had approximately 80 shelters in the city, while the City of Burnaby had about 70 prior to the contract's end.
Last winter, the city purchased 20 shelters from Tolar Manufacturing to replace the Pattison bus shelters that were located in high-ridership locations, at a cost of $281,500.
The total cost of replacing the 80 bus shelters came in at approximately $1.22 million, less than the $1.76 million initially estimated for the project.
The City of Burnaby is also taking over advertising on its bus shelters.
The city hired an advertising consultant to analyze the new bus shelter program who estimated the city could recover its initial investment in six to eight years, Chu said in a previous interview.
"That's good, recovering it in less than 10 years," he added.
The city is considering partnering with smaller advertising groups, who may not be able to afford the capital cost of installing and maintaining bus shelters.
Chu said they might be interested in advertising opportunities on the city-owned shelters.
The new designs include ad boxes, and the city has put out a request for proposals for thirdparty advertising management, he added.
City staff are in the final stages of reviewing the request for proposal submissions and should have a report ready for council in the next few weeks, Chu said.
jfuller-evans@ burnabynow.com
