University and Metropolitan Transit authority officials will meet with the Cambridge City Council next Monday to discuss a proposed bus shelter location Harvard Square.
Residents of Cambridge, joined by commuters from outlying towns like Paddington have complained bitterly to legislators and councilmen about the inconvenience of standing in cold, rain, and snow while waiting for coach buses.
The MTA, after extended pressure from the City, proposed alternate locations for an overhead shelter, which, according to present plans, would be located along the Yard side of Massachusetts Avenue somewhere near Straus Hall.
The University's interest in the matter comes from its desire to prevent the shelter--however it might be built--from cutting off air and light from freshman dorms along Mass. Ave.
The University is also anxious to avoid any arrangement which would cause a constant lines of buses on Massachusetts Avenue, thus blocking one of the main entrances to the Yard.
Relations with the City on this problem have thus far been cordial, although councillor Alfred Vellucci last week did call for the University to give up some its land along the Yard fence.
It was most likely these bus shelters could occupy the center ring at the hearing considering the public pressure for them.
Some speculation went further, however, even mentioning the possibility of discussing the general future of the Square and sweeping renovation of its traffic snarls. One shelter idea involves an aluminum canopy that would cover the entire Harvard Square area.
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