PANAMA CITY — Cynthia Floyd, 62, of Panama City, rides the Bay Town Trolley every day to work, boarding at 11th Street and Harrison Avenue.

While the only issue is occasionally having to wake a homeless person napping on the bench, Floyd said she is enjoying the public transportation system's new shelter.

"The shade is real nice. And it's nice under here when it rains, too," she said Friday morning.

Training:PCB firefighters take advantage of condo's broken pump to train for worst-case scenario

In case you missed it:Panama City Beach jump starts Back Beach 6-laning with relocation of utilities

County Commissioner Tommy Hamm said the 11th Street and Harrison Avenue shelter is one of six newly constructed at bus stops throughout the county.

The trolley system, with a ridership of 330,000 trips per year, has 300 bus stops and Hurricane Michael damaged many of them in October 2018, said Valerie Sale, public information officer for the county.

Hamm said the trolley system has many more bus stops than it has shelters, but people ride every day to get to medical or dental appointments, shopping centers, jobs and even tourism sites for $1.50 a trip. Yearly passes also are available, he said. According to the BTT website, students, senior citizens, Medicare card holders and disabled persons can ride for 75 cents, and children under age 5 are free.

Royal American Construction offered to build six new stops and even foot the $91,083 bill, Hamm said.

"We're always short on bus stop shelters and the storm tore down a lot of them, except for the ones at the Beach. We're just grateful they offered to do it," Hamm said. "This is just a good example of a public-private partnership to benefit our community."

Hamm said commissioners would like to have more bus stop shelters installed, especially like the ones Royal American built.

"These (new shelters) look aesthetically more pleasing," Hamm said.

The new shelters feature a curved roof over a secured bench alongside a secured trash can and bicycle pole.

The old bus shelters were enclosed on three sides, were hot inside during hot weather and came with two unwanted accessories: graffiti and trash.

While the 2018 hurricane damaged 23 of the 40 shelters that had been installed, construction began on two of the new structures before the storm, Sale said. Those include the bus stops at 15th Street and Lisenby Avenue — east and west.

"The second, post-storm phase of the project began in June 2021, wherein four more (slightly larger) shelters were installed at 11th Street and Massalina Drive, 11th Street and Harrison Avenue, MLK Boulevard and Seventh Street (northbound), MLK and Seventh Street (southbound)," Sale said.

Hamm said the county would welcome other companies interested in helping the county add shelters.