V A resident waiting at one of DART's Next Generation Bus Shelters. Photo: DART anessa Lopez put a lot of thought into what she wanted to incorporate into a bus shelter design that would work for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) riders now and into the future. DART and its partners, KAI Enterprises, HDR and Tolar Manufacturing Company, made Lopez's design into a working, functional bus shelter. This may sound like an everyday process between a transit agency and its design and manufacturing partners but this story is different. Lopez was one of 16 college students that worked on concept designs for the project, working with DART to gather ideas and rider feedback to develop what would become the transit agency's Next Generation Bus Shelter. DART partnered with the University of Texas at Arlington's (UTA) College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Dallas Chapter to sponsor a student-design collaboration for new bus shelters in fall 2022. Fast forward to the summer of 2024 and those concept designs have become reality, with DART installing three versions of the new bus shelter prototypes at five bus stop locations in its service area to kickoff its new pilot program. " We're looking to see how these shelters and all their new features are received by our riders, " said Brandi Stringer, director of mobility capital projects for DART. " Our number one goal is to provide an amenity at our bus stops that riders love and adds to their experience when riding DART. " SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 | MassTransitmag.com 27http://www.MassTransitmag.com