Bert Williams Downtown Transfer Terminal

Someone I know is going to like this post, or at least most of it :)

Fair is fair.

Couldn't make it to the grand opening ceremonies Friday morning of the Bert Williams Downtown Transfer Center, but was lucky to have a tour later on in the afternoon thanks to Mr. Jay Banasiak, Director of Sun Metro.

It was beautiful!

Yeah, there's some minor kinks to be worked out, and some bigger ones, but overall it was such a breath of fresh air to see an updated modern city facility.

Breakdown-
the bathrooms (at least the women's and I'm sure the men's is similar) had a fair amount of stalls including one wheelchair-accessible stall. It was occupied when I 'toured' it and I wished that at least one other stall would have at least grab bars for ease of accessibility- maybe put in a set in the stall next to the wheelchair accessible stall and place a sign on it saying 'grab bar accessible'- that would be very helpful for us needing the bars if the other stall is occupied.

the outside benches- just enough room for people to sit on both sides, could use another 2-4 inches width, tho. Was nice to see little slots for wheelchairs to fit in under the canopy, but don't know if too many people are aware that that's why it's narrower there- we'll see as it's being used more if that creates any problem or confusion, if so then maybe a sign would help out above the area.

cafe- good eats, reasonable prices- burgers, hot dogs, coffee, soda and the likes. The tables and chairs arrived Friday morning so that was a relief- it is a bit crowded, tho, for wheelchairs.

air conditioning- need I say more? It wasn't hot Friday but the air sure felt good:)

security- Mr. B. said there were 4 security guards in the day and 2 in the evening hours- excellent!

lighting- too bad we couldn't get any stimulus money for solar on this project, but we should be able to convert sometime in the future- there's alot of incentives and tax credits out there to be had. Maybe we can work with the BRAC projects that want to include solar for certain city/base projects?

All in all- a great leap in the right direction!

I even like the outside sculpture, alot, even tho it wasn't made by an El Paso artist- would like to see more art at the other new terminals by local artists.