Richmond officials want to test a new kind of bus stop. The Planning Commission is skeptical.

Richmond traffic officials are hoping to try out a new type of bus stop where riders would get on and off using a platform built in the street that would also slow down traffic. But some aren’t so sure Richmonders will get the idea and adjust their driving habits accordingly.

The plan hit a snag at a city Planning Commission meeting this week when members raised concerns about safety and the possibility motorists would get confused by the variety of new traffic features showing up around the city. 

The platform being proposed would require buses to stop in the traffic lane instead of pulling to the side of the road, a system traffic officials said is broadly accepted in traffic engineering circles and working as intended in other cities. The planned rollout of the first platform in the next few months, according to officials, would be a test case to see if more should be installed across the city.

“The idea is that we’re going to get real-time feedback on how this works,” Kelli Rowan, who works in the city’s Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility, told the Planning Commission at Tuesday’s meeting.

Rowan explained that the platform is part of “lighter, quicker, cheaper” transportation improvements the city is considering deploying. The platform made of recycled plastic would be temporary and easy to install, Rowan said, but if it works effectively a permanent version could be put in later.

“The platform under review will create a more welcoming, people-scaled neighborhood amenity while also increasing safety for riders and reliability of buses,” the project application says.

However, some commission members worried the platform could create a new hazard by causing motorists to try to get around stopped buses by pulling into oncoming traffic, near an area where riders would be trying to to get on and off the bus.

“I’m not sure how safe I would feel even sitting there,” said City Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District), the council’s representative on the Planning Commission.

Robertson said she was concerned by the prospect of a two-lane road coming to a chokepoint created by the bus platform and other anti-speeding measures like curb extensions that would be installed along with it.

“I am a little concerned that we’re using too many different traffic calming mechanisms throughout the city and they aren’t consistent,” she said.

The city is planning to install the first of the temporary bus platforms in the 1400 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike where the street intersects with Brauers Lane, a few blocks away from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. Rowan said the project would have a community art component by having MLK students paint the proposed traffic features.

Officials said that area was chosen due to resident concerns about traffic, but some Planning Commission members felt it might not be a great idea to try a new feature in an area already known for aggressive driving.

“It’s a little unruly in that area just in general,” said Commission member Samuel Young, who was attending his last meeting before resigning from the body.

Planning Commission Chairman Rodney Poole seemed unsettled by the talk of more of the bus platforms potentially being on the way before he and his colleagues had signed off on the first.

“I do know that this commission has exclusive jurisdiction over structures,” Poole said after asking Rowan for a commitment that the city wouldn’t put in the bus platforms without the commission’s approval.

In response to the safety concerns, Rowan said other bus stops along the test platform’s route would still require buses to pull to the side of the road, giving drivers behind them a chance to pass safely.

The commission didn’t flatly reject the proposal, but asked Rowan and her team to present more information and data on how the platforms have worked elsewhere. 

The commission chose not to approve the proposal but voted to revisit the topic at its February meeting.