UBC, SFU classes still on despite promise of full bus strike next week

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Bus service could come to a halt as transit workers move to a full-on strike next week, but school will continue as usual at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

Students, faculty and staff at UBC and SFU are being told to plan other ways of getting to campus if bus service is cancelled. Unifor, the union representing transit workers at Coast Mountain Bus Company, says buses won’t run Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week if a deal can’t be reached in contract negotiations.

RELATED: Transit workers promise ‘complete system shutdown’ of buses if no deal reached

Matthew Ramsey, with UBC, says the school is aware many who commute to the school rely on public transportation, and there are 156,000 daily trips to the campus on transit.

“A thousand buses a day flow through UBC’s transit hubs, so obviously any disruption of service would be a great concern to our community,” he says.

“We understand their concerns. We know that a lot of our students come from far-afield, and we understand that they’re concerned about how they’re going to get to and from this campus.”

He says students should speak to their professors or academic advisers to determine what their options are if they aren’t able to get to class.

“Right now, what we’re encouraging our students, faculty and staff to consider is car pooling, cycling or other alternate modes. We will have, and have posted a map to ubc.ca which indicates pick-up and drop-off areas.”

RELATED: SkyTrain workers holding strike vote

On its website, SFU is warning students to plan for extra commuting time and consider alternate transportation, such as carpooling. Students are being told to notify their instructors or supervisors if the strike impacts their ability to get to school.

The latest updates on cancellations and delays can be found on TransLink’s website.

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