America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: San Diego vs. Commerce

We’re onto the third match in the first round of Streetsblog’s annual sorry bus stop tournament.

In the first two contests, Pittsburgh beat Medford, Massachusetts, and Chapel Hill eliminated San Juan to get through to the second round.

Today’s face-off pits two bus stops in southern California against each other. Vote for your choice for the worst below.

San Diego

Reader Mathew Sterling sent in this entry. He writes:

This bus stop is on Mission Center Road across from Sevan Court in Mission Valley, San Diego. Specifically the one on the East side (on the left of the picture). [On] this road people drive highway speeds all the time. It already is a joke that there is a bike lane, everyone I know living around here wouldn’t risk it. The bus would block the bike lane and presumably the entire car lane, while the person leaving or entering the bus has almost nowhere to stand and has to cross four lanes of fast cars. And this is in a central part of San Diego, not some rural area.

Agencies responsible: San Diego Street Division, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

Commerce, California

This submission on S. Atlantic Boulevard outside Los Angeles comes from reader Colin Wright. While it may not look as bleak as some other competitors this year, consider that this is a densely populated area where lots of people depend on transit. Wright says:

This bus stop is sorry for a few reasons. First, it obviously lacks a comfortable, dignified waiting area. It offers no place to sit and no shade. A man was hiding behind a large utility pole just out of frame of this picture to escape the afternoon sun and heat.

More importantly, the street is dangerous for pedestrians. A high amount of fast-moving freight traffic passes along this road at 40+ MPH, and there’s an extremely wide intersection just to the right of this picture where pedestrians have been struck and killed over the last few years. This is an urban area that relies on transit to access LA, but unfortunately this stop is emblematic of the quality of many of the bus stops in this community.

Agencies responsible: Commerce Transportation Department, LA Metro.

Which should advance to round two? Vote below.