Putnam: Passengers give slippery seats at new Gateway station thumbs down

EAST LANSING – The gleaming new Capital Area Multimodal Gateway train and bus station may be easy on the eyes, but it’s not so easy on another part of the anatomy.

Janet O’Brien of Haslett loves the look of the transportation building that opened for bus service in November and for train service in January. But the seating? Not so much. The seats slope downward giving O’Brien, 76, the feeling she is about to slip onto the floor.

She’s not the only one. After some complaints, the Capital Area Transportation Authority, which oversees the station, has already ordered additional benches – sans sloping seats — for travelers inside the facility at a cost of $23,888.

The metal benches with the sloped seats will be moved outdoors for additional seating for waiting travelers. The new benches look similar but have a level seat.

O’Brien, who is just over 5’1”, recently took an Amtrak train from East Lansing to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois with her husband.

“I would try to sit, and I would find my bottom sliding. I had to keep making sure I planted my legs right. It was very uncomfortable,” she said. “Who would that be comfortable for? A pregnant woman? A woman with a baby? The kids couldn’t sit in the chairs, either. It just does not suit anybody unless you’re tall enough.”

I stopped by to look at the seats last week and found Deanna Smith of Cedar Springs moving her 78-year-old mother-in-law, Marilyn Smith of Rockford, off the sloped bench and onto the portable seat built into her walker. The women said they didn’t feel the benches were safe. The two were there to pick up a friend.

• Related: Capital Area Multimodal Gateway to offer CATA service
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Laurie Robison, CATA spokeswoman, said the benches fit with the architectural design and were recommended by the project’s architect, DLZ of Lansing, and approved by CATA management.

She said one of the reasons for selecting the sloping seats was to discourage loitering and trespassing. My take: the angled benches are designed to keep them from being used by as sleeping benches by the homeless or runaways.

They are from a company called Forms+Surfaces, an international firm that specializes in public seating, and cost $3,400 for an 8-foot bench with a back. Robison said the replacement benches are the same, but with a level seat.

“They are beautiful benches, and they complement the design and angles of the design itself. That wasn’t the only design criteria. You just don’t know until you have them and you use them,” Robison said.

In a followup email, she said: “CATA holds itself accountable for its decision to purchase the benches. CATA CEO/Executive Director Sandy Draggoo also made the decision to order the seven 8-foot benches for the facility’s interior seating solution.”

The station also has three climate-controlled sliding-door vestibules that are always open for passengers.The sloped seating will stay in those locations, leaving the flat seats available inside the facility during station hours.

Robison said the additional benches are within the project’s $6.3 million budget. Gateway was built with federal grants. She didn’t have an estimate on the cost of labor to move the benches.

“All I can say with certainty is that our facilities personnel keep very busy and will efficiently utilize their time to relocate and install benches,” she said in an email. “CATA does take its stewardship of public funds to heart.”

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Write to her at300 S. Washington Square Suite #300 Lansing, MI, 48933. Follow her on Twitter @JudyPutnam.

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