By Katherine Gibson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 25, 2013
September isn’t over yet and already many students have taken advantage of the campus connector shuttle bus for transportation between the Chilliwack Education Park (CEP) and Abbotsford campuses.
A pilot project, the shuttle has had undeniable success in its first three weeks of service.
“It’s far more successful than we ever anticipated,” Student Union Society (SUS) president Shane Potter explains. “Between September 9 and 13, 1275 students rode the shuttle bus back and forth over one full week of service.”
Building on this initial success, SUS has decided to put forward a referendum asking all students to agree to an increase from the $6.75 fee to $17.75, in order to fund an expansion of this service.
This $11 raise to the current shuttle bus fee will fund the running of an additional third bus, extended hours of service, as well as full bus access during the summer semester.
Potter stated that the referendum will not address current issues with the service such as the liability concerns currently preventing the buses from stopping at the Park and Ride locations at McCallum Road in Abbotsford and Lickman Road in Chilliwack, as well as the lack of service to Chilliwack’s UFV Theatre on Yale Road.
However, he did suggest that it has the possibility to come later in the future.
“There’s always an option, whichever way this referendum goes, to talk about, down the road, having a bus go out to the theatre,” he continues. “That’s the nice thing about these shuttle busses; after hours we can pay a little, tiny bit more and use the service for other things.”
SUS plans for this referendum to start on October 25 and end October 30, giving students the opportunity to voice their views on whether the additional service truly merits the $11 fee increase.
“Basically, if this does not go through, the level of service we currently have will stay,” Potter concludes. “It’s up to the student’s voice to determine if this is something that they want to do.”
