By Katie Stobbart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: April 8, 2015
“It doesn’t seem that long ago we were at UFV to receive an armload of petitions asking for this bus service. We knew there was very strong demand for it from the university, and from the community in general.” — Sharon Gaetz, Chilliwack Mayor, in the Chilliwack Progress
The Fraser Valley Express (FVX) — a rapid transit route connecting Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and Langley — has finally arrived. The route has been a longed-for necessity for years, particularly for students commuting to and from UFV campuses.
However, the timing and cost of the project may mean students won’t use it, after all — a possibility that doesn’t bode well for future transit development in the Fraser Valley.
While the FVX will hopefully attract enough riders to ensure its success from the community, it follows the implementation of a cheaper option for students: the Student Union Society (SUS) shuttle. After the recent addition of a Langley shuttle and increased Chilliwack service, the fee per semester is $26.70. The fare per trip on BC Transit’s FVX is $5 per person, and it’s not currently connected to SUS’s U-Pass.
It’s unlikely students already using the SUS shuttles will switch when they’re already paying for a transportation service (with Wi-fi, no less), nor will any chronic drivers choose FVX when they’re already not getting their money’s worth out of the shuttle.
There’s already talk of ridership being low in the Fraser Valley, and inefficient service is a key barrier to transit’s use. But low ridership usually means slower or less development. So if students are a main target audience for the FVX route, and they don’t use it, there’s a good chance future services we need or ask for will be even more sluggish to appear. It exacerbates the problem; this could be just one more piece of evidence in the argument that no one takes transit, so why expand?
However, students aren’t at fault for this per se. It’s still a case of the system not meeting the need on time, and planners not doing a good enough job drawing in clientele. I challenge you to find any advertising either at UFV or even on city buses about the route or the first day of free travel (passed by time of print). How can you have a successful service if hardly anyone knows about it?
It may not seem so long ago that UFV was begging BC Transit for an efficient way to commute among the main communities its students live in, but a lot can happen in a few years. I hope this service will be a step forward for transit in the Fraser Valley. As it stands, it seems redundant for UFV’s transit users; in future infrastructure projects, better planning and communication among all parties might prevent the rather limp arrival of a long-awaited dream.
