PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority relocated its Allendale Shopping Center bus cease on Jan. 20, citing complaints from the property house owners that bus riders had contributed to elevated drug use and shoplifting on the premises.
But whereas the brand new cease at Crane Avenue is barely 300 ft away from its preliminary location, the change has considerably disrupted the 4 bus routes that used to rely upon entry to the buying middle — inflicting some to query whether or not allegations of heightened felony conduct are substantial sufficient to justify the shift.
A BRTA bus cease on Crane Avenue adjoining to the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield.
“I don’t assume all of our bus passengers are inflicting all of the ruckus that’s described,” said Benjamin Hansen, operations manager for BRTA. However, he added, “I do feel that a couple of bad apples may have cost this stop for the vast majority.”
Glenn Langenback, the Allendale Shopping Center’s property manager, did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to moving the stop, further adjustments had to be made to ensure BRTA buses no longer travel through the shopping center’s parking lot at all. All four routes that trafficked at the former stop must now pick up riders at additional points throughout the Coltsville neighborhood, complicating what used to be a much simpler entry point to Pittsfield’s primary retail center.
A bus travels south as an individual waits on the BRTA bus cease on Cheshire Road throughout the road from the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield.
The Allendale Shopping Center cease serves 4 BRTA bus routes: Route 1 (Pittsfield-North Adams), Route 4 (Pittsfield-Dalton-Hinsdale) and routes 12 and 14 (Pittsfield Southeast Loop), which cowl the identical route in reverse instructions. Route 1 is without doubt one of the hottest bus routes within the county.
“We have a lot of routes that meet there at the same time,” Hansen stated. The longtime Allendale Shopping Center cease, which was positioned simply outdoors of Goodwill, “was very convenient for us,” he stated.
Originally opened in 1955, the Allendale Shopping Center is at the moment owned by actual property firm Phillips International. The middle is residence to a wide range of shops and native eating places, together with Goodwill, Walgreens and a preferred Aldi grocery store. The middle additionally contains the Allendale Underground, which incorporates a number of below-ground shops and companies.
Hansen stated BRTA initially tried to compromise by shifting the bus cease outdoors of the Walgreens on Dec. 31, inserting it farther away from the Allendale Underground entrance to disincentivize loitering. But he stated that the buying middle’s property supervisor requested that the cease be faraway from the buying middle solely after complaints continued.
BRTA in the end complied with the request, shifting the bus cease simply outdoors the buying middle’s parking zone on Crane Avenue efficient Jan. 20. The new cease is positioned on a sidewalk, farther away from retailers and eating places, and doesn’t characteristic a shelter.
Considering the historic significance of the Allendale Shopping Center as a preferred retail vacation spot for consumers and workers alike, in addition to a key route switch level, Hansen stated he wished the cease may have stayed the place it was.
“It’s a shame that suddenly it’s become an issue,” he stated. “Very little has changed in the last few years. Nothing major has occurred where I can see.”
An individual waits on the BRTA bus cease on Cheshire Road throughout the road from the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield.
Capt. Matthew Hill of the Pittsfield Police Department stated shoplifting isn’t unusual in retail facilities, and there have been occasional calls to the division from the Allendale Shopping Center reporting drug use or an undesirable particular person on the premises. However, he stated there had been no noticeable enhance in crime over the previous few months.
“I didn’t see anything that stood out, or alarming enough that a bus company would eliminate their stop,” he stated. The majority of calls in the previous few months, he stated, had been marked as “unfounded” or “person left prior to police arrival.”
Several workers at companies within the Allendale Underground stated that they often noticed riders sheltering contained in the underground space whereas they waited for buses to reach on the unique cease, which was positioned simply outdoors of Goodwill.
Alex White, an worker on the Berkshire Running Center, stated a belligerent shoplifter on the retailer a number of months in the past prompted staff to take further warning. But typically, he stated, there hadn’t been many issues in latest occasions outdoors of loitering and littering.
“I think it’s kind of a stereotype that people who take the bus don’t have the money to drive, so they’re more likely to steal,” he stated. However, he stated he helps the choice to maneuver the bus cease, as he felt lingering teams of individuals close to retailer entrances would possibly unnerve potential clients.
Since the bus cease moved to Crane Avenue final month, White stated he hadn’t seen a big enhance or lower in buyer visitors. “I hope it doesn’t affect any other businesses,” he stated.
The bus cease signal for the BRTA bus on the Allendale Plaza in Pittsfield.
“It’s a little less hectic in the parking lot without the buses,” stated Jill Thomas, an worker at Hair Express and Day Spa. She stated that she had beforehand witnessed problematic behaviors like indoor smoking, aggression and not less than one incident of public intoxication on the Allendale Underground, and police had typically been referred to as.
“I think a lot of it really had to do with the homeless people,” she stated. But in the end, “we really don’t have a problem with people. We try to be nice to everybody.”
Store workers at Goodwill and Walgreens declined to remark.
The bus cease adjustments have alarmed Susan Pietrowsky, a bus rider who worries that the scattered stops would require pedestrians to navigate busy intersections and place themselves in danger.
“I was shocked at the change,” stated Pietrowsky, who described herself as an occasional traveler on Route 1. “It was a good, solid bus route. It got you where you needed to go.” And in Coltsville, “there’s a lot going on there that’s already not pedestrian-friendly.”
She added that she felt any felony exercise, together with substance abuse, at Allendale Shopping Center might be confronted by means of different means. “Were there to be incidents like this at Allendale, there are plenty of remedies to address this,” she stated.
Looking ahead, Hansen stated he hopes that BRTA can sooner or later resume service on the Allendale Shopping Center property.
“I do hope it can be resolved,” he stated. “We’ve been there for a very long time. We’ve never had any sort of complaint in the past.”