Hasselt Installs Hemelrijk Bus Shelter in Cemetery Parking Lot

Hasselt (Eurotoday) – Hasselt has placed a repurposed bus shelter in its cemetery parking lot for maintenance staff, mainly smokers, to take breaks. Team leader Wouter Smeets confirmed its purpose. The solar-powered lights amusingly turn on at 5 a.m.

A bus shelter has been installed in the parking lot of the Hasselt cemetery. However, officials clarify that it’s not for visitors but for the maintenance staff who smoke. Around half of the team smokes and needed a designated space, especially in bad weather.

Since the cemetery offers few locations where workers can smoke without disturbing visitors, the city decided to place the bus shelter in the parking lot. This allows workers to take shelter and breaks without causing inconvenience.

According to Wouter Smeets,

The shelter was placed there for the smokers among our colleagues. About half of the maintenance team smokes, but there are few places in the cemetery to take cover in bad weather. To accommodate them, we installed the shelter so they don’t disturb anyone else.

Why Does Hasselt’s Hemelrijk Bus Shelter Light Up at 5 A.M.?

According to Wouter Smeets, the bus shelter in the blank”>cemetery parking lot has sparked curiosity. Some find it amusing, joking that there is now a bus service to the cemetery. Others see humor in the shelter’s placement within a cemetery. Locals have playfully named it “Hemelrijk,” meaning “Kingdom of Heaven.” Despite its unusual setting, the shelter serves a practical purpose for workers.

Officials explained that the bus shelter was not newly purchased. It was retrieved from the city’s warehouse, where old bus shelters are stored when no longer required. Instead of leaving it unused, the city repurposed it as a break area for cemetery workers.

This solution provides workers with a place to go when it rains or gets cold while ensuring they can smoke without disturbing visitors. It also saved the city money since a new shelter didn’t have to be bought. Now, workers can take breaks quietly and without causing any disruption.

Bus shelters are the property of municipalities, including the city of Hasselt,

Smeets explains.

Some early morning visitors were surprised to see the shelter’s lights turn on at 5 a.m., momentarily wondering if ghosts were involved. However, Wouter Smeets clarified that the lights turn on automatically because the shelter is powered by a solar panel and battery.

He further explained that the lights are synced with the bus service schedule and activate when buses start running. Laughing off the eerie coincidence, Smeets reassured everyone that there are no ghosts—just an energy-efficient bus shelter.