For Immediate Release
January 10, 2024. VANCOUVER, BC – The Alma Mater Society (AMS) of UBC, representing over 60,000 students, is pleased to announce our support for the Access for Everyone Call to Action Campaign. The AMS, along with Metro Vancouver Mayors are calling on the provincial and federal governments to commit to new funding to ensure a sustainable, accessible transit system in the region. The first phase of the Access for Everyone Plan will require all levels of government to commit the funding needed to deliver enhanced transit services by April 2024.
The coordinated advocacy effort began today, January 10, 2024, with a “call-to-action” letter-writing campaign to mobilize Metro Vancouver residents to encourage their local MPs, MLAs, and respective provincial and federal ministers to commit sustained and robust funding for transit infrastructure and services.
“UBC students are disproportionally affected”, says Joshua Kim, AMS VP of External Affairs. “The affordability crisis is pushing students further and further away from campus and they need better access to transit. The situation is negatively affecting their physical and mental health as well as academic performance.”
UBC Point-Grey campus is connected to the rest of the region by three of the busiest transit networks, including the 99-B line, which is the busiest bus line in North America. In 2023, 33%of UBC students had commutes exceeding one hour, with a higher rate of 53% for first and second-year students, according to the AMS Academic Experience Survey. Now more than ever, post-secondary students in British Columbia need a well-funded and accessible transit system to pursue higher education. Funding transit projects that benefit post-secondary students is an investment in the province’s future workforce and economic prosperity.
“We need all levels of government to commit funding upfront to these projects, including the Skytrain to UBC,” adds Kim “Projects like the Skytrain to UBC, improving transit infrastructure, and increasing services are not only transit-specific projects but also projects that tackle housing issues, economic reconciliation, environmental goals, and, in general, connecting higher learning institutions to the region at large.”
The AMS calls upon post-secondary students across British Columbia to urge their local MLAs and MPs, as well as relevant provincial and federal ministers, to advocate for the funding of the Access for Everyone Plan by going to accessforeveryone.ca or by scanning a QR code at your nearest transit hub. The form will take students less than a minute to fill out, and a pre-written letter will be sent to their local MP/MLA and the respective federal/provincial Ministers of Finance and Transportation. The letter will highlight that TransLink’s system is already overcrowded and will get worse without investment in transit expansion and will emphasise the urgency of securing provincial and federal funding commitments in their respective 2024 Budgets.
For more information on how the AMS External Office is involved in this Campaign, feel free to contact Joshua Kim at vpexternal@ams.ubc.ca or Erin Strachan and Bandhul Vikas Khanna at avpexternal@ams.ubc.ca.
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