By Katherine Gibson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 9, 2013
UFV’s shuttle bus is being given a critical look in the face of the Student Union Society’s shuttle referendum and the announcement of the Fraser Valley Regional District’s proposed Chilliwack-Abbotsford-Langley public bus route.
Currently, the shuttle bus travels between the Canada Education Park (CEP) and the Abbotsford campus, but does not stop at Park and Ride locations at McCallum Road in Abbotsford and Lickman Road in Chilliwack as the original plan stated.
These stops were part of the original schedule for the shuttle service, but were suspended just before the beginning of the fall semester. The press release cited liability issues.
While the cities of Chilliwack and Abbotsford were supportive of the shuttle stopping at the Park and Ride locations, they sought insurance coverage, something that required more time than UFV and SUS had before the beginning of the fall semester.
“While the two cities were interested in supporting pick-up/drop-off opportunities for our shuttle service, they wanted both the university and the shuttle bus provider to [insure] them for any liability,” UFV vice president for students Jody Gordon explains.
“This will require significant discussions, both with [Impark] and with our Provincial Insurance provider,” she continues. “We simply did not have enough time before the start of the fall semester to ensure this was in place, let alone even possible.”
Whether or not the shuttle will be able to stop at the park and ride locations in the future remains to be seen, but students cannot expect any changes to take place until after the upcoming referendum.
“We will pick up [this] conversation after we see the results from the referendum,” Gordon concludes.
