Remember October of 2007? The city was atwitter with bus shelter mania as Muni reached an agreement with Clear Channel to provide brand new shelters featuring the following:
- 3,000 bus poles with solar-powered signs will be installed at transit stops where there are no shelters within seven years from the date the designs are approved.- At Muni's request, Clear Channel is required to provide a self-sustaining Bicycle-Sharing Program. It can be provided by a different vendor if Clear Channel can't get it going.
- Shelters will speak NextMuni information out loud, will have a beacon for waiting passengers to attract approaching vehicles, will contain recycled and sustainable materials, will be solar-powered, and will be "graffiti-resistant," whatever the hell that means.
- Clear Channel may install an additional 400 shelters and 111 kiosks.
- Clear Channel will pay $5,000,000 up front, then annual payments of $500,000 in admin fees, $200,000 in marketing fees, and $265,000 for the Arts Commission. Revenue sharing will be 55% for the first 15 years.
So, whaddya think? It's 11 months later, and Gavin's just now getting around to showing us something "green." Is this the new shelter we've been waiting for, or a useless flash-in-the-pan gimmick like the connected bus? Will it be as awesome as they predicted last fall? We'll be glued to CNN all day, waiting for details.