By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 30, 2013
The drive between Chilliwack and Abbotsford is only 20 minutes long, but for students without a vehicle that distance becomes astronomical.
SUS president Shane Potter lives in Chilliwack, takes most of his classes in Abbotsford, and looked to increase transit options between the two towns when he ran for the position of VP east almost a year ago.
This goal will finally see the light in early March; students will be asked to decide by referendum if they support paying $6.75 a semester to pay for a bus between the two towns.
The proposed bus system will run 10 times a day and five days a week. Buses would start as early in the morning as possible, to cater to trades students and other programs that start bright and early, and run until 10 p.m. when the last class block ends.
Creating a bus route between Abbotsford and Chilliwack has been a SUS goal for years, and Potter says it was just a matter of getting the right people together in a room to see it through. Forming a single-purpose ad-hoc committee to tackle the problem turned out to be the way to the solution.
“The brilliant part is that we put Dan van der Kroon and Jay Mitchell on that committee,” Potter says. “If you [tried to] pick two more focused individuals to put on this committee, you couldn’t. Both are well connected in the community and well-versed in transit. They’re both definitely community leaders … without them, this project wouldn’t even be close to being a success.”
Although SUS has pushed for a public option in the past, Potter says the answer was instead funding a private option.
This will allow SUS to synch departure and arrival times with class blocks, and more importantly allow the system to be put into place much faster.
“We have a long history of lobbying towards a public option, but … I felt that with government it’s just taking too long,” Potter says. “Especially when you have UFV moving programs out to Chilliwack and pushing their new campus … we need a solution right now. And the private option creates that.”
Sixty per cent of the cost will be funded by a dedicated student fee at $6.75 per student per semester. The referendum in March will determine whether or not students are willing to pay it.
The per-semester fee will allow students to ride the bus by flashing their UPASS, although the fee will be completely separate from the UPASS fee. Separating the two fees, Potter says, is a necessary precaution to make sure the revenue can’t be put towards something else.
“If we start lumping everything into set fees, it allows the Student Union Society to discontinue a service without discontinuing the revenue,” Potter explains. “This way, it’s protected. It’s public. To kill it, to raise it, to change it – all has to go through referendum. It’s the most direct form of democracy that we can make.”
The other option was to have students pay on a per-ride basis, which the ad-hoc committee saw as unfeasible.
“There are a lot of economically disadvantaged students, and the people who will use this program to its full potential are the people who really can’t afford to be spending a lot more money,” Potter says, “So this will allow them to pay $6.75 once, and then allow them the option to connect to other campuses.”
The other 40 per cent of the cost will be paid for by the university.
“Nothing is set in stone until everything is signed, but they are fully aware of everything we’re doing,” Potter explains, noting that both parties will be pooling their funds at the same time assuming the referendum passes.
“The UFV administration is really encouraging this. This is helping them massively,” Potter adds, explaining that faculty and staff will also be able to ride the bus. “The benefits that I’m seeing, and the excitement that I’m seeing generated from their end – it’s something that they’re really pushing for.”
The referendum itself needs a 60 per cent “yes” vote to pass, and Potter stresses that students will be voting to institute a one-year trial period. After the system has been in place for one year, the student body will go to referendum to decide if service should be increased, kept at the same level, decreased or scrapped altogether.
Tuesday, January 29, marked the beginning of the 30-day information period that precedes every referendum, and more information will be making its way to the student population over the next month. The referendum itself will run from March 1–8 through myUFV.
The referendum question
“Do you support an up to $6.75 per semester Chilliwack-to-Abbotsford transit fee to secure mass transit between Chilliwack and Abbotsford for our students?”
