King County Metro Transit Division is always on the lookout for opportunities to increase passenger safety and economy, and has been exploring new opportunities to improve lighting at bus-shelters. Today’s bulletin outlines a project that not only improves lighting, but also takes the shelters “off the grid.”

King County Metro Transit Division has increased passenger safety by installing 37 solar light-emitting diode (LED) bus shelter lighting systems so far this past summer. Metro has joined a growing list of transit authorities that have combined energy conserving LED technology with solar power systems. Others who have taken this step include Pierce County Transit (Tacoma, WA), Portland TriMet (Portland, OR), and even London, England.

Solar-powered lighting allows Metro to install lighted bus stops without the expense and construction of connecting the facility to the regional power grid and LED technology consumes far less power than typical lighting systems.

Metro Transit has experimented with solar components before, but maintenance and failures were a problem. The current technologically advanced units are less costly to install than running electricity and Metro can retrofit existing shelters or install at new ones. Preliminary estimates put the installation cost for these solar lights at about 20 to 50 percent less than for the hardwired equivalent. Metro hopes that the solar units will require very little maintenance, and, of course, there is no monthly electric bill. Metro will be monitoring the new solar-light units, and hope they will provide more lighting options for areas throughout Metro's system.

Also, there is no need to worry about cloudy weather because the system's energy management software tracks patterns, and dims lights accordingly to conserve power. This built-in data monitoring system will help Metro evaluate how well the product is performing over time.

So far, the units are performing well. The next test for these solar lights will be this winter when it gets darker earlier during peak commuter times. Metro is looking forward to customer comments and feedback.