Halifax Regional Police are looking to find whoever is responsible for damaging more than two dozen bus shelters in the municipality.
Police say they received a call Saturday afternoon reporting that 22 bus shelters had been damaged.
“I don’t know what the motive was for whoever did this, but it’s absolutely senseless,” said Const. Dianne Penfound with Halifax police.
“Property damage is no joke and when you are looking at 20 to potentially 30 bus shelters, that’s a lot of money and people who take buses, especially in this cold, utilize those shelter… It was senseless.”
On Monday afternoon, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Tiffany Chase told Global News that new estimates show approximately 29 shelters may have been damaged.
All of the damaged bus shelters are located between Purcells Cove Road and St. Margarets Bay Road.
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She said the city’s bus contractor determined the number.
“Our contractors have been visiting all of the sites to first clean-up any of the broken glass that’s there and then they are now in the schedule to be replaced.”
Chase said replacing a single bus shelter typically costs between $5,000 to $6,000. Chase said a total for how much the vandalism will cost the city is unknown at this time, as officials are still trying to assess the extent of the damage.
The company responsible for the repairs expects to start work Monday.
Some Halifax Transit riders who spoke with Global News called the damage “disgusting.”
“I think there’s a lot of people who should get some sort of help if they’re doing things like that,” Laurel Bradly said
Scott Edgar with the advocacy group It’s More Than Buses called the incidents “shameful.”
“It’s an enormous expense and it’s totally needless,” Edgar said. “And really what we hope is that it’s not a huge setback in Halifax Transit’s plans to kind of expand and improve bus shelters around the network.”
Police say their investigation continues.
With files from Cory McGraw, Global News
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