PA: New seats offer resting place at smaller Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus stops

They are essentially two seats attached to a pole at less-busy bus stops, but Pittsburgh Regional Transit thinks its new Simme-Seats can improve the public transit experience for riders.

Across the area, the transit agency has 6,512 bus stops. The stops range from fancy shelters in Downtown Pittsburgh with fare vending machines and other amenities to smaller enclosures that protect riders from weather. And then there are those that have nothing more than a sign indicating a stop.

Simme-Seats — coated steel seats with a mounting pole between them — can be installed at the smaller, less busy stops to provide a resting place for waiting passengers.

The transit agency has installed three sets of the seats so far — two in Monroeville and one in Bellevue — and expects to place 100 throughout the bus system over the next two years.

The compact seats, manufactured by Simme LLC, are used by more than 100 transit agencies around the world, according to the company's website.

"Because we don't own many of the properties where amenities are installed, traditional options like shelters, benches, or lean rails often require property owner approval, concrete work, and more physical space," Darcy Lynn Cleaver, PRT's deputy planning officer, said in a statement.

"Compact seats allow us to provide seating more quickly and in locations that can't accommodate larger amenities. This isn't about replacing or eliminating existing features — it's about giving us another flexible option that helps meet riders' needs in the right places."

PRT spokesman Eddie Phillipps said seats have been installed along Monroeville Boulevard at Ivanhoe Drive and Old William Penn Highway at Good Shepard Church in Monroeville as well as along Lincoln Avenue at Jackson Avenue in Bellevue.

The agency also has permits for eight more in Pittsburgh neighborhoods such as East Liberty, East Hills, Shadyside and North Oakland that will be installed as weather permits.

New seats cost $651 each, plus another $400 for a sign, mounting pole and installation by PRT workers. Full-scale shelters can range from $4,500 to $11,500.

The new seats are perforated to allow moisture to run off of them, can hold up to 500 pounds each and can withstand winds of up to 162 miles an hour. Anything that stands out in the weather constantly needs to be built for that.

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