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Even though they haven't been used as much as hoped, if one child's life is saved, the cost of school bus stop seating will be money well spent.
That was what two members of the Cape Coral City Council said during Wednesday's workshop meeting regarding the city's school bench pilot project.
And it appears that after two years, there was a consensus to keep it going and perhaps even expand it, while also getting rid of some blighted picnic tables, that served the same purpose but haven't aged well.
The city partnered with the Lee County School District, Rotary and Kiwanis in 2019 on this pilot project following the death of a child waiting for a bus. The program implemented 200 benches throughout the city at existing semi-permanent school bus stops, with the Kiwanis and Rotary donating the benches.
The intent was to provide a dedicated location for students to sit while waiting for the school bus.
The question has always been whether they would be utilized.
Lee County School District conducted field surveys to collect data and determine the actual utilization of the donated benches.
The numbers were somewhat disappointing. Less than 40 percent of all observations saw some usage of the bench. Of the 179 bench locations observed, 153 were either used less than 50 percent of the time or not at all.
At a recent stakeholders meeting, it was determined that the benches should be kept in place nonetheless.
At the same time as the pilot program started, neighborhood groups began putting picnic tables at bus stop locations. These tables have varied in quality but, for the most part, were not designed to be left in the elements, have not been maintained and many have become blighted.
The city has plans to remove the picnic tables where there is a bench/slab, replace 62 picnic tables with a bench/slab at other semi-permanent bus stops and remove the remaining 38 picnic tables.
That would leave 266 semi-permanent bus stops, or nearly half, without a bench.
Despite the low utilization, council praised the program and wanted to see it continue, although some, like Councilmember Tom Hayden, too some issue with the way the utilization rates were determined.
"This is a labor of love and this is how we roll. I've seen people utilizing the benches. For a community not known for its walkability, it can be known for safety," Councilmember Gloria Tate said.
"This is an excellent program. If we save one life, it's worth it," Mayor John Gunter said. "I support replacing the picnic tables with benches in the rights of way. The tables are a code enforcement issue and they're not allowed."