Toronto might get new bus shelters and public furniture

The ubiquitous bus shelters and street furniture that have dotted the Toronto cityscape for close to two decades could soon be replaced with an entirely new look.

The City of Toronto entered into a 20‑year agreement with Astral Media back in 2007 to supply, install, and maintain street furniture such as bus shelters and benches in exchange for advertising space.

With that long-term agreement set to expire in August 2027, lobbyists have been pitching City Hall on new options to replace the aging bus shelters, benches, and other street furniture found throughout Toronto.

The City is shopping around for new deals under its Coordinated Street Furniture Program, and while Astral Media will undoubtedly be among the bidders, other companies have begun to enter the conversation.

A new lobbying file logged in late October hints at one potential option for Toronto's next generation of bus shelters and street furniture.

Matt Elliott first reported on the lobbyist registrar entry in his City Hall Watcher newsletter, highlighting Laval, Que.-based Sheltec registering to pitch Toronto on their products.

Sheltec's bus shelters are in use for Ottawa's OC Transpo system, where they operate in an even harsher climate than Toronto. 

The company touts its exclusive use of Canadian materials to manufacture its products, including steel produced in Ontario.

In addition to Sheltec, the Canadian Out-of-Home Marketing and Measurement Bureau (COMMB) has registered lobbyists to discuss the City's upcoming street furniture contract. 

The non-profit association of advertising industry members doesn't appear to have any in-house street furniture program, though its background in advertising suggests that the company is specifically pursuing the advertising side of the furniture-for-ads model Toronto employs. 

The City of Toronto's deal with Astral Media has long been criticized by locals, most notably with perpetually broken and overflowing garbage bins that were eventually replaced with similarly issue-plagued receptacles. 

While Astral Media's own surveys showed widespread support for the street furniture program in its early years, public opinion seems to have soured in recent years, even if most of it has been directed at the state of Toronto's public waste/recycling bins.