By Jessica Wind (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 3, 2012
It has been some time since whispers of a bus linking the Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses have wafted through the halls. However, SUS VP east Shane Potter, VP academic Dan van der Kroon, and representative-at-large Jay Mitchell hear the need loud and clear.
What makes this project so important to you?
Shane Potter: Well, when I was elected, one of the stances I was elected on was a bus between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. I’ve been on this board six months now, and even early in my term, people were constantly asking me when this bus was going to happen. It’s something that’s important to the students, so it’s important to me.
Dan van der Kroon: When the U-Pass was approved, I saw an immediate need to have this connection. I want people to be able to live a car-free lifestyle comfortably. Right now, frankly, it’s almost impossible to go to UFV without having a vehicle at some point during your time here and that’s a real shame. So I feel that this link is one of the last things that needs to be in place before that becomes a possibility.
Jay Mitchell: The U-Pass came in just before I was brought on to the board and, like Dan, I recognized there was a need for a connection from Chilliwack. Once I was elected it was one of the projects I wanted to work on the most.
This connection in particular is of interest to me because I recognize that the public sector is listening, but at the same time they’re not taking action as fast as the public would like and the private sector isn’t really picking up with a feasible option to meet that public demand.
What are some of the options you are looking into?
SP: There are three companies that are proposing options. Two of them are offering a traditional 40-person charter bus, and Jay’s looking down the path of [running] school busses between the campuses.
Does the charter bus pose limitations with scheduling?
SP: One of the companies we’re looking at already owns busses, and is providing the service at Kwantlen University where they’re offering transit services between the campus. So we would be using a bus that’s already bought for that purpose.
Scheduling would be entirely up to us, so the nice thing about going with a private option is we would be allowed to tell the bus exactly how many stops per day, what time to stop, what time to end. So it does give us some freedom that way.
How many busses are you looking to use for this connection?
JM: A one or two bus option. Then we’re looking to schedule it approximately along the same schedule that BC transit suggested. It was eight to nine runs a day, so we sort of wanted to model after that so … students can get adjusted to it. Then once the service comes from BC Transit it won’t be too difficult to align their schedules.
So BC Transit is looking to put a city bus in, but you’re looking to do it faster?
JM: Yes, the way that it works is Abbotsford and Mission work together on transit, then Chilliwack sort of works on their own, so we have to liaise through BC Transit. They’ve been trying to push the municipalities to prioritize this connection, but city politics are generally slow.
There was a petition a year ago, but we haven’t heard much about the bus since. What happened?
DvdK: It was a bit of a political saga where the Mission/Abbotsford transit committee received the petition and they debated it internally. Then the city of Abbotsford passed a motion to focus on improving the local transit service … which effectively killed that option in the short term.
The city of Chilliwack has currently budgeted for the funding to implement the public service on this route, and is waiting for their Abbotsford partners to step up. It’s unfortunate that there’s not enough dialogue between the two jurisdictions to make that happen.
The board votes to put forth a referendum on Friday?
SP: We’ll be putting a motion to the board in the near future for going to a referendum with the students. The referendum will basically be outlining the student contribution to this contract. I was looking at $5 to $6 per student. The rest would have to be made up by the university and sponsors.
The $5 to $6 would be in the form of a fee increase?
SP: It would be a specific fee increase for this project, and it would be tied to the project. This would die as soon as the contract dies. There were early suggestions to put it as part of the U-Pass, but that allows the fee to never go away when the contracts end.
Where do you go from here?
SP: Referendum and information to the students. We are currently looking at three different companies, we have quotes and we know the cost lines we need to be at. We haven’t had a referendum until now because we spent the whole summer researching what this would actually cost.
It’s going to be a very open and equal referendum. In the next three weeks I’m looking to have a full public disclosure with a press release, as far as [what company] we’re going with and the cost.
We want this to be a short-term solution; the public option is really the ultimate solution. The companies we are looking at are looking to sign a one-year contract. We’re hoping that will push the government to hurry the public option.
With any government, if you want something done, do it yourself. That will show the absolute importance of it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
