{"id":10338,"date":"2015-03-04T06:57:03","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T14:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=10338"},"modified":"2015-03-12T12:29:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T19:29:42","slug":"student-reps-get-position-on-victoria-transit-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2015\/03\/04\/student-reps-get-position-on-victoria-transit-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Student reps get position on Victoria Transit Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student reps at Camosun and UVic say a recent decision to instate a student position on the Victoria Transit Commission will be an important step to address ongoing issues with transit.<\/p>\n

Rachael Grant, external executive of the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), and Greg Atkinson, director of external relations for the UVic Students\u2019 Society (UVSS), will share the newly appointed position, which won\u2019t have voting power but will still have significant influence, according to Victoria Transit Commission chair Susan Brice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expectation is that down the road they would be a voting member, but we are a very consensus-building group, so I would anticipate that a student rep who has valid points to make would be regarded by other people on the commission as though they had a vote,\u201d explains Brice, also a Saanich councillor. \u201cThere may be times when there could be issues that are more divided, in which case the students would be able to use their powers of persuasion and their comments to influence the commission members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Victoria Transit Commission recently instated a position for student groups to address issues (photo by Jill Westby\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grant and Atkinson both say they are \u201cthrilled\u201d at the commission\u2019s decision to instate a student position, even if it is a non-voting role for now. Grant says a motion has already been made to investigate turning the position into a voting one, and Brice confirms that commission staff is already looking into how to change the provincial legislation to eventually give the students voting power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were incredibly excited about this huge win for students in the realm of transit,\u201d says Grant. \u201cThis is above and beyond what we asked for, and we\u2019re very enthusiastic about sitting at that table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atkinson says when the decision was made at a Victoria Transit Commission meeting he and Grant could hardly contain their excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting beside Rachael and we both did a little fist-bump,\u201d laughs Atkinson. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was student reps who originally approached the commission about getting more involved, and Brice says the commission was happy to work more closely with student reps on transit issues, since students are the largest segment of transit ridership in the Greater Victoria region.<\/p>\n

Camosun and UVic students contribute over $5 million annually to their mandatory Universal Bus Pass program, and the CCSS and UVSS (along with Unifor 333, the union of Greater Victoria bus drivers) founded the Make Transit Work campaign.<\/p>\n

Brice says working with students on transit issues has been very beneficial to transit services as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very interesting and rewarding working with students,\u201d she says. \u201cI have found over the years that the students are very good at carrying the message forward on behalf of the general student body. They are very knowledgeable about the transit system as it relates to their needs and as it interacts with their school schedules.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student reps will now sit at the table with mayors and councillors and help shape the future of transit services in the area. With access to the commission\u2019s meeting agendas, reports, and budgets, the reps will be able to \u201cbring our issues with transit to the forefront and make sure students are being consulted,\u201d says Atkinson.<\/p>\n

Grant and Atkinson say they will work together in the position to ensure that transit works on issues such as route accessibility, bus pass-bys, and sustainability, among others that affect students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something very exciting for the mayors and councillors that supported us as well,\u201d says Atkinson. \u201cThey see this as a way of getting new ideas and possible solutions for transit issues they\u2019ve been identifying for years, so we\u2019re providing a fresh perspective for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student reps at Camosun and UVic say a recent decision to instate a student position on the Victoria Transit Commission will be an important step to address ongoing issues with transit. Rachael Grant, external executive of the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), and Greg Atkinson, director of external relations for the UVic Students\u2019 Society (UVSS), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-march-4-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10340,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338\/revisions\/10340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}