Most bus stops in L.A. have no shade. That’s a big deal as the climate crisis fuels even hotter and longer summers in L.A.
That’s especially a challenge for people who can’t avoid the heat, like if you have to wait for a bus for 30, 40 minutes or more, which can be the case for bus riders during off-peak hours.
Shade from trees is ideal: according to the Environmental Protection Agency, they can lower temperatures 9 degrees or more. Shade in general alleviates heat stress on the body, but only 26% of all L.A. Metro bus stops have structures that provide it.
Identifying the hottest bus stops
The non-profit Climate Resolve identified 32 bus stops across L.A. County that have the highest surface and air temperatures in summer, as well as the most riders. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena analyzed the temperature data.
Then, via a March Madness-style bracket system, the organization tallied rider votes to narrow the stops down from an “exhausted 16” to “sweaty eight” to final four. The final four bus stops will receive a shade structure design, based on rider input. Climate Resolve will then present those ideas to L.A. Metro and the patchwork of government agencies, including cities and the county, that oversee these stops.
The goal is to get commitments from these jurisdictions to implement the ideas by the end of the year, said Catherine Baltazar, climate policy analyst and lead organizer on the bus stop project.
I met her at the 76 bus stop at Valley and Atlantic in Alhambra, one of the top eight hottest stops identified. She and outreach and communications fellow Wendy Ayala Bernal were there on a recent afternoon to talk to riders about how they’d like to see this bus stop change.
A woman and her young daughter sat near the…
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