“Sometimes you only realize how valuable something is after it’s taken away. I think the shuttle bus to Bannatyne was one of those things,” said U of M Students’ Union president Sid Rashid.
The service was discontinued in September 2009 and replaced with additional transit routes via the No. 36 Super Express.
U of M Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) vice-president (Health Sciences Center) Meaghan Labin explained that this has created a multi-faceted problem, not only for students but for faculty and staff of the university as well.
“Individuals in different faculties are required to take courses at those campuses and now have to pay that additional fee for transport between to get to their courses, which, again, they pay for like any other student,” said Labin.
“With the service itself, students are having the problem where it’s full at peak hours. If you’re trying to get to your 8:30 class and the bus is full and it drives by, you don’t really have a whole lot of options other than taking another form of transportation, another bus or just being late for your class.”
Several reasons for the discontinuance of the service were given by the university administration in a letter to UMSU after the students’ union representatives had asked for formal explanation of its cancellation.
The letter states that the two key reasons for its discontinuance were that the shuttle bus was posing an environmental hazard as the bus loop was located directly in front of an air intake vent, and the new Apotex Centre for Pharmacy increased demand for an inter-campus shuttle service.
This increase demand would require the addition of two new shuttle buses and would increase both operational costs and the university’s transit management responsibilities.
Additional reasons included were the abuse of the “free service” by non-University of Manitoba student passengers, the tendency for the older, environmentally-unfriendly shuttle buses to break down, and that research showed a majority of students already hold a Winnipeg Transit bus pass.
“The thing with the transit is that it’s much more flexible. You can add more buses for peak periods, the transit buses are better [and] they’re more environmentally friendly, whereas the shuttle bus was one [ . . . ] older bus that was traveling back and forth,” said university spokesperson John Danakas.
The new transit route may pose as a more convenient replacement to the shuttle bus, as it allows students to get off at different stops, leaves every half hour and eliminates the need for transfers.
Yet the financial side is still a concern for those who utilized the free shuttle service.
“I feel what they didn’t take into account is that a lot of students that use the shuttle bus didn’t purchase bus passes. That’s a huge additional expense for them to incur,” said Rashid.
Lepin also stated that the issue is not strictly financial, but one about uniting the two campuses.
“We’re one university with many campuses, and although people might see that as a detriment, it’s also an advantage in that it gives us [ . . . ] a very broad student body,” said Lepin. “With that, the university has to acknowledge that it has to provide some means to bridge the gap and bring everybody together.”
Cole Moszynski, a student in the faculty of environment, earth and resources said that he now has to buy a bus pass instead of being able to take the free shuttle.
“That’s an extra $60 a month. Besides that, it was just more convenient. It was a positive thing that the university was doing for all of its students and now that it’s cancelled, it sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it I guess.”
Both Mosynski and Inderjit Kainth, a U1 student, agree that many individuals have been inconvenienced with the loss of the shuttle bus.
“It’s very inconvenient for people [ . . . ].”
The shuttle bus used to be free and used to save a lot of people a lot of money,” said Kainth.
“It was always packed, that bus. It was really convenient because it was free, first of all, and it was pretty dependable. It was always on time and it ran well.
[ . . . ] It was good for a lot of people,” said Mosynski.
“They were nice buses. They were like beaver bus lines. They had comfortable seats. [ . . . ] Now it’s just back to the same old thing.”
The GSA is currently working together with UMSU to lobby the university to provide an alternative to the shuttle bus service that was in place before and to the transit service that is running now.
The GSA is currently circulating an online petition throughout the university, while UMSU has petitions available to sign in their office.
Rashid said they will be calling the petitions back at the end of the second term and have called for another meeting with the administration and faculty council members to discuss the shuttle bus service.
