Thieves have been making off with the metal chairs at the bush shelter on Church Street in New Haven.
Dough Hausladen, the city's director of transportation, traffic and parking, said the problem first came to the city's attention in December when New Haven Connect app users and CT Transit drivers reported it.
"The problem we're seeing is our bus benches are not remaining. We have some that are broken and some that are removed," said Hausladen.
Hausladen can't be sure why they're being taken, but speculates that the metal is what makes them valuable.
"We're asking our neighbors to make sure to let us know when there are issues, so we can jump on them right away, and that way we can help prevent them in the future," said Hausladen.
The city is also looking to see how the bus shelters and the benches inside them can be improved.
"We need to design these better it looks like. We need to go back to the drawing board and figure out the better bench to prevent them from being removed," said Hausladen.
Local
New Haven police say metal thefts are decreasing in the city, and officers work with local scrap metal companies to see if any stolen metal is brought there.
