![\"dsc_0216\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/DSC_0216.jpg\")
<\/a>Last year, Rogers brought forward a motion that would give all incoming Syrian refugees in Greater Victoria a free one-year bus pass; she hopes that it will be mandated when it comes up for review.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily directly pertain to students, but it was something brought to the table by the student rep at the time,\u201d says Grant.<\/p>\n
The student representative position has also brought up issues around transit safety, resulting in an installation of security cameras on buses. Rogers says that the topic came up when talking to Unifor Local 333, the union that represents Greater Victoria bus drivers, about drivers\u2019 safety while advocating for longer transit hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe service hours that exist right now aren\u2019t conducive to students being able to get home safe from downtown on the weekends,\u201d says Rogers. \u201cIf you work in the service industry, or if you want to stay for last call, there\u2019s not that many buses that will get you home. We dropped off over 5,000 signatures\u2014postcards that were written for the transit commission\u2014asking for late-night transit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brice says that there\u2019s currently a request in with the government for a two-cent increase to the gas tax to help BC Transit get the funding that they need to increase late-night hours.<\/p>\n
Even though the student representative can\u2019t vote, Brice says that since the commission is a small group, every voice has an equal weight in the discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a group that tends to build by consensus,\u201d she says, \u201crather than just necessarily by vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
But both Grant and Rogers say that the position needs to be one with voting power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be a meaningful statement that students are an important part of transit in the Greater Victoria area,\u201d says Grant.<\/p>\n
Addressing buses passing by students is an ongoing issue that continues to be brought up in meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cPass-ups have been a problem for a really long time,\u201d says Grant. \u201cOne interesting thing about being on the commission is learning in a lot more detail why that is the case. It\u2019s much more complex than just adding more buses to a route. It\u2019s often an issue of not enough government funding. No one likes to be passed up when they\u2019re trying to get to their class. It\u2019s frustrating. It\u2019s talked about at every meeting and there are efforts being made to address it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Victoria Transit Commission had supervisors on the buses during the first week of classes to talk to students and gather information.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was grateful for that because it wasn\u2019t just a matter of getting statistics on a sheet,\u201d says Brice. \u201cI was able to talk to senior staff who had actually been on the bus that morning and seen the pass-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Grant is working on getting a discount bus pass for students during the summer months. For now, Brice\u2014who says that she hopes that students can appreciate that the UPass rates stayed the same during the recent transit-fare review\u2014says that the student voice is valued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always interested in hearing first-hand any issues and recognize that students, like everybody else, have busy lives,\u201d says Brice. \u201cHopefully, we\u2019re representing their needs, but there\u2019s always an option to write to the commission or come down to a commission meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Camosun College students will have a say on the Victoria Transit Commission (VTC) board this year. Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) external executive Rachael Grant currently holds the student representative position on the VTC board; last year, the position was held by Kenya Rogers, then University of Victoria Students\u2019 Society (UVSS) external executive (the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12849,"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":[11,13,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue","category-news","category-november-16-2016"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12845","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=12845"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12854,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12845\/revisions\/12854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}