Abbotsford and the surrounding Fraser Valley are currently undergoing a shortage of BC Transit drivers that is resulting in cancelled buses. This is causing disruptions for students and staff who rely on the bus service in the Fraser Valley to get to school and work. The 1: UFV and 12: UFV are the designated routes to the university, but those who are commuting further, or who need multiple bus connections, are having more difficulties getting to campus on time.
“BC Transit is currently facing a labor shortage in a number of transit systems across the province, including the Central Fraser Valley Transit System. The organization is also experiencing continued service disruptions due to the ongoing impacts of employee wellness,” said James Weiss, senior media relations and public advisor for BC Transit.
Weiss also confirmed that due to these challenges, BC Transit has had to cancel some of the buses on the schedule to accommodate this shortage. This shortage has been occurring throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and BC Transit is working to solve this issue in several ways. To help improve the schedule and all the routes, the organization has set up an online platform called Voice of the Rider that enables commuters to give feedback based on their experiences.
“I don’t think that they are optimizing [the current bus schedule and system] well because they keep cutting important bus routes like the one I have to take to get home, while continuing to keep the service on the ones that go relatively regularly,” said UFV student Clement Cameron.
Cameron has been riding the bus for several years, and it is harder for him to travel to the university because one of the routes that is deeply affected by the shortage is 5: Hospital. Last semester he took a late class and had difficulty getting home because the last two buses were being cancelled on a regular basis. Cameron hopes that in the future, BC Transit will have more consistency, especially on the weekends.
“Recently, I’d say that anytime I am possibly late or about to miss a bus, I take another route and I find another bus stop that I can go to to wait and possibly reach my class before it starts,” said UFV student Armaann Kapoor. He commutes on the bus for university and uses Google Maps to plan out how to get to the university on time. Kapoor said that he was unaware that there were notification alert emails that people can sign up for to be informed of cancelled buses on the BC Transit website.
“It’s still a good bus system, but it can be frustrating because sometimes it is unpredictable when the buses will show up and when they won’t. The driver shortage can be challenging for people who take the bus, particularly for students,” said associate professor Jessica Price. A regular commuter, Price has been teaching political science at UFV since the summer of 2019. She added that while professors can afford to take a cab in a worst-case scenario, students may not have the budget to accommodate the extra expense. Price also pointed out that it is not easy to determine which buses are going to be cancelled and that Google Maps does not give alerts. Price hopes that BC transit will have additional bus routes that come to UFV on a regular basis besides the 1 and 12 UFV.
A commonality amongst those interviewed was that they were unaware of the rider alerts. According to Weiss, “riders may also sign up for route-specific alerts that will be emailed to them directly.” This can be found on the BC Transit website, and riders can click on the alerts to sign up for email notifications of cancelled buses.
Weiss also encouraged students and faculty who take the bus to use Google Maps and the Transit app, and look on their website for alerts.
Price said what she hopes for BC Transit is to have “more transit options connecting to UFV, and we could imagine having different cities in the Fraser Valley that are connected to each other too over time, because that would be a fantastic thing to have happen with the buses.”
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.
