Dear Editor:
As a student leader at Capilano University, students share their experiences with me all the time. Recently I heard from a student who recently watched two packed buses leave them waiting at Phibbs Exchange – too full to board.
They stood just eight minutes away from their class at Capilano University, and they’d already spent 90 minutes commuting from Surrey and made four transfers. If they didn’t have their U-Pass BC, they’d need to pay for a second fare just to cover how long they have to commute because their fare would literally expire.
Every day, CapU students like us deal with long commutes, overcrowded buses, and transfer after transfer – only to be stranded two kilometres from campus, waiting up to fifteen more minutes for the final connector bus to campus.
According to an annual experience survey conducted by the Capilano Students’ Union, the average commute for CapU students is more than 100 minutes, and nearly half of us make three or more transfers just to get to class.
Things weren’t always like this. Five years ago this month, TransLink cut three direct bus routes to CapU’s North Vancouver campus. These cuts severed direct links from places like Park Royal, Lonsdale Quay, Metrotown, and Brentwood. Since then, most of us have been funneled into a single, overcrowded bus from Phibbs exchange to cover the last leg of the trip.
And here’s the kicker: proposed new routes – like a RapidBus to Metrotown and the North Shore BRT – are designed to pass right by CapU … without actually stopping here. That means even more people packed onto the same connector bus, and still no direct access to campus.
The provincial government has made recent transit funding commitments, and that’s great, but to truly fix the North Shore’s transit crunch, we need long-term stable federal investment in public transit.
That’s why the Capilano Students’ Union is calling on students and community members to join us in pushing for the restoration of direct bus service to CapU. Federal funding supports that possibility of accessible, reliable, and connected transit networks, including on the North Shore.
Vansh Kalra
Vice-president external, Capilano Students’ Union
