For Karen Hynes, slowed by multiple sclerosis, the first step to catching the bus is leaning on a telephone utility box near Westheimer and Dairy Ashford.

She rests against the box right outside her apartment complex, waiting to see an eastbound bus pass on Westheimer, about 300 feet away. When a Route 82 passes, she heads toward the bus stop, shuffling along sidewalks scattered with debris, hoping to catch the next one in about six minutes.

Sometimes Hynes makes it to her bus on time and does not need to sit on the tilted bench at her stop outside a strip shopping center. Sometimes she does not, leaving her with a choice to sit down and struggle to get back on her feet, or fear falling down.

“If you don’t have to think about it, it seems small,” Hynes said recently, seated on a day the timing just did not line up quite right. “But it’s my life.”

Area officials want to make trips to the bus like Hynes’ a little easier, with an unprecedented level of spending across the region to improve access, sometimes simply by clearing the way. Metropolitan Transit Authority is taking the lead on leveling sidewalks and bus stops to give riders an easier path to transit — or, in some cases, actual access to it.

“This is a model of what an agency can do,” said Metro board member and disability access advocate Lex Frieden.

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Nothing will happen overnight to make each of Metro’s 9,000 stops smooth and ready for wheelchairs, but the effort and the money Metro is putting behind it — some of its own and the rest coming from city, county, regional and state sources — is unprecedented.

“This is not just rhetoric, we are funding this priority,” said Roberto Trevino, Metro’s executive vice president for planning, engineering and construction.

Transit officials last year committed to tackling these treacherous trips, noting the deplorable condition of some sidewalks and bus stops in the region.

In many communities, transit users — especially the elderly and those in wheelchairs — are cut off from buses because they cannot make it to the stops because of blocked, buckled or absent sidewalks. When they can get to a stop, they wait exposed to the sun and rain, at places where bus ramps cannot quite line up with the sidewalk, if there even is a sidewalk.

“Some of them are just standing in the grass,” Metro board member Lisa Castaneda said.

Metro jump-started a handful of projects last year to repair sidewalks in key spots, as they assessed which of the system’s bus stops — including those at transit centers — were most in need of fixing.

On Thursday, officials are scheduled to approve a contract with Tikon Group for on-call construction services aimed at bus stops. The on-call contract will give staff the ability to hire Tikon for up to $3.2 million worth of work over the next three years.

Repairs at each stop will vary in price, but officials said the contract likely will lead to repairs at hundreds of bus stops.

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To ready Metro for the work, planners have assessed bus stops and made priorities based on how many disabled or elderly riders use each, the overall condition, and the stop’s proximity to critical services, such as medical appointments or groceries.

That preparation is a sign things are moving in the right direction, Metro board member Sanjay Ramabhadran said.

“From a conversation to actually seeing things ready to be built is good to see,” he said.

Another $30 million in funding could follow, pending approval from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. The agency’s transportation policy council, which doles out federal money, is finalizing its list of upcoming projects. Staff have suggested giving Metro $30 million for key sidewalk and accessibility projects.

Addressing the problems, however, extends beyond Metro. Within Houston, the city has some oversight of sidewalks but cedes most of the responsibility to landowners, who are supposed to maintain pedestrian access along the property. The city lacks the power in many cases to force improvements, leaving many sidewalks in disrepair, especially in older parts of the city.

Harris County leaders have expressed interest in working with Metro to make some larger improvements, said Metro board member Jim Robinson, the county’s appointee to the transit authority.

The best way to improve sidewalks and stops, however, is to build them right the first time. A bus stop typically costs about $21,500 to build with the proper concrete pad, bench and bus shelter. Not every one needs a shelter, but every one that does can be built more effectively for the city and county if it is included as part of new construction rather than added later.

Houston and Harris County can compel improvements when new commercial and residential developments are built or properties are redeveloped, but even that has come with mixed success. Only recently did the city’s design manual change to include approval from Metro before permits are granted.

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Changing the rules will not be a cure-all. Metro now monitors job sites to make sure developers are doing what they said they would do. Often, a simple letter or call to the contractor can correct problems, Trevino said.

“All they need is education, there is very little resistance,” Trevino said. “That type of coordination and goodwill cannot be understated.”

Mistakes, however, still occur. For example, a new office building project along Washington Avenue included landscaping along the street, including where a bus stop always has been. In redoing the property and the sidewalk along Washington, the developers created a small grassy area and raised the sidewalk.

The change may be more aesthetically pleasing, but it does not conform with disability access standards. Bus stops are supposed to include level boarding platforms where the bus can lower a ramp for someone in a wheelchair.

Metro temporarily moved the bus stop to the end of the block, but still is seeking a permanent fix.

The hope, officials said, is that policing more plans will create a culture in which Metro and sidewalk access is considered from the outset.

“Hopefully, there is a future where we don’t have to be driving around to catch (errors),” Ramabhadran said.