GREENSBORO -- About four dozen students from UNC Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture are working on a prototype bus shelter for the Greensboro Transit Authority.

The shelter will stand at Tate and Spring Garden Streets.

Sophomore Nacarra Lessane, one of the students on the team, said the group had a specific design goal in mind for the project.

“Most shelters are hard, plastic or glass and have metal elements, but this is very natural," sophomore Nacarra Lessane said. "It blends into the environment."

After conducting interviews at the bus depot, the students found the city of Greensboro has 1,100 bus stops, but only 64 shelters, leaving thousands of riders unprotected from the elements every day.

“The biggest complaint was that there are no shelters at most of the stops. And if there are they are not safe, they're not appealing, so we really wanted to jump in and change that," said sophomore Anna Will.

Students hope GTA will pick up the prototype so more riders will have shelters at their stops, because while gas prices continue to plummet, the economy continues to worsen and more and more people are turning to public transportation.

“The purpose of this class is actually to reach out into the community and see what we can do to help as design students and potentially as designers," Lessane said.