There is a newer, younger breed of bus shelters showing up in DeKalb.

There are now six bus shelters with black bodies and red roofs that have been installed at different locations throughout DeKalb.

“The shelters were installed at no charge to the city,” DeKalb Transportation Planner Laurie Hokkanen said.

Illinois Convenience and Safety Corporation of Chicago erected its first bus shelter in 1979 and maintains about 350 shelters, ICSC President Bruce Campbell said.

Each shelter has one advertising panel which ICSC hopes to fill with local ads instead of national ads, Hokkanen said.

The advertising rate for each shelter is between $275 and $325 per month, Hokkanen said.

DeKalb will receive 5 percent of the advertising revenue from ICSC during the 10-year bus shelter agreement, assistant city manager Linda Wiggins said.

“The money we receive for the shelters will be put right back into the transportation department,” Wiggins said.

“This was a great opportunity to achieve a goal of DeKalb and the Student Association,” Hokkanen said. “It is a good public-private partnership.”

Finding a private business to fulfill a public need is not always an easy thing to do, Hokkanen said.

“[ICSC] cannot build a shelter if they do not sell the ad space,” Hokkanen said.

More $15,000 shelters may be built in the future if the market can support them.

ICSC will be responsible for collecting ad revenue that is generated by the shelters as well as the maintenance of the new shelters, Hokkanen said.

“We give each shelter a weekly cleaning and take care of any emergencies that might come up,” Campbell said. If anyone would like to report maintenance issues please contact ICSC at 773-545-5296.