Standing at a Hall Area Transit bus stop may become a thing of the past for many riders.

An $82,400 project could buy nine covered shelters and 29 "Simme-Seats," or two opposing, cantilevered seats attached to a bus stop pole.

The bus service is using money from the state and the Rotary Club, which is covering what would otherwise be the project's local government match, to leverage nearly $66,000 in federal money, said Phillippa Lewis Moss, Gainesville-Hall County Community Service Center director.

The shelters and seats would be used at the busiest stops for Red Rabbit, Hall Area Transit's fixed-route bus service.

The Gainesville, South Hall and Hall County Sunset Rotary clubs teamed up in the effort, approaching Hall Area Transit about 18 months ago, Moss said.

Rob Fowler, immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Gainesville, said the clubs "talked about it and met a couple of times, and we thought this would be a good use of money."

"We felt like (Red Rabbit) has its place in our community," he added.

"People bash it sometimes because they don't see anyone on (the buses), but there are a lot of people who depend on it for medical appointments, going to school, getting to jobs that we don't know about," he added. "And I don't think it's our place to judge that."

The clubs also could benefit with the addition of Rotary plaques at each shelter, he added.

Moss said the project provides an inexpensive way to help a lot of riders.

A large shelter such as ones now used by Red Rabbit cost about $5,500 apiece.

"It is consistent with (ones at) bus stops across the nation," Moss said. "We love them and they're working quite well for us, but they only work with a (certain kind of) topography.

"We have in our community a lot of sloping roads and very narrow sidewalk areas. ... There are a lot of areas that don't work for a large bus shelter."

The Simme-Seat, costing about $550, is "very original, very simple and functional," Moss said.

"There's no overhead coverage, but it does supply a seat."
Also, it's very flexible in where it can be installed.

Officials are expecting final federal approval of funding by October.

Equipment then would be bought in the winter, and "hopefully, we'll have it all installed by June 2012," Moss said.

Hall Area Transit has a few of the Simme-Seats on hand now, as a sample of what the product is like, and hopes to have them installed in the next month or so, she added.

The bus service, which broke a ridership record with 175,824 customers between July 1, 2010, and June 30, has a ways to go to add the seats and shelters at all of its 200-plus bus stops.

But Moss said the ones that are being added should make a big impact.

They are being placed at stops "where typically you find two to three people during our peak hours," she said.