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Funding to replace the worst of the bus seats with heavy-duty fabric and no padding was approved with the federal-provincial funding announcement Thursday. In addition, $2 million will be spent converting all the LRT seats to Fiberglas.

All new buses will have easy-to-clean seats as well, starting with the next order in 2017.

“They’re form-fitting, lumbar-supported seats,” said transit head Eddie Robar, promising they’ll still be comfortable and attractive. “It still gives us that atmosphere we’re trying to create.”

“In big cities you see this. It’s a bit more utilitarian but it’s a lot easier to maintain,” said Mayor Don Iveson, who rides the LRT most days.

“It is sometimes a challenge to keep them as clean as we’d all like them to be, especially when it’s muddy out.”