When Deb Winsor walked to her Uptown bus stop, she was often irked by the amount of litter she found along the way.
So she decided to act, joining a growing number of people who have joined the recently revived and expanded Adopt-a-Stop program. Adopters agree to visit their adopted stop weekly to remove litter and to report more serious concerns, like graffiti or broken glass, to Metro Transit.
In exchange for their efforts, adopters receive Go-To Cards with enough value to take 10 rides a month, cleaning supplies, and can have their names added to the bus stop sign or shelter.
“I would walk to Uptown past this bus stop and be annoyed about the litter. Then, I said to myself, `Why complain? Let’s do something about it,’” said Winsor, a hospital receptionist who takes routes 6 and 2 to her job in the surgery center at M Health Fairview in Minneapolis.
Historically, the program focused largely on stops with shelters. Today, though, people can adopt any of the nearly 12,000 bus stops found across the region.
Hamline University sophomore Lane Renner is another recent adopter. His Theta Chi fraternity now looks after the METRO A Line’s Snelling & Hewitt Station, which sits in front of their house on Snelling Avenue.
“It’s an easy way to give back to your community,” Renner said. “It doesn’t take that much work. I know the people who come by appreciate having a clean bus stop.”
To date, 14 stops have been adopted. The hope is to have dozens more adopted by the end of the year.