Part of our mandate has been to create a true “made at UBC” Strategic Transportation Plan (STP). UBC’s Strategic Transportation Plan is the product of a long-term and in-depth community consultation process. It provides guidelines and recommendations for managing changes to UBC’s transportation systems, proposes solutions to many campus transportation issues, and includes strategies for implementing important changes in how we travel to, from and around campus. UBC’s Strategic Transportation Plan also informs the development of other transportation plans, policies and projects. The development of UBC’s next Strategic Transportation Plan will begin in early 2011.
2005 Strategic Transportation Plan, approved July 2005
Highlights of goals in the 2005 STP to achieve by 2010:
- Maintain daily automobile traffic at or less than 1997 levels;
- Implement an on-campus shuttle service;
- Create an end-of-trip facilities plan for cyclists;
- Implement a U-Pass program for UBC residents, staff and faculty; and
- Clarify targets for heavy truck traffic.
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1998 Strategic Transportation Plan, approved November 1999
Highlights of achievements between 2005 and 1997 include:
- A 4.8% reduction in SOV trips from 1997 levels despite the 22% growth in student enrolment, plus associated faculty and staff;
- A 163% increase in transit ridership; and
- A 13% reduction in daily automobile volume.
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What is the STP?
The Strategic Transportation Plan is a document providing guidelines and recommendations for managing changes to UBC’s transportation systems.
The STP document contains 55 strategies to reduce reliance on the single-occupancy vehicle, based on over 18 months of consultation with the UBC Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) and over 5,000 other on- and off-campus stakeholders. The analysis in preparing this plan relied heavily on a demographic and transportation planning survey that was e-mailed to 34,000 UBC students, staff, and faculty in January 1998. There are other UBC planning initiatives underway that complement the STP. These initiatives deal with the provision of increased opportunities to live and work on campus, and with the enhancement of community services for UBC residents. (See www.planning.ubc.ca).
A complete UBC community requires that everyone have access to a proper transportation system for trips to, from, and across campus. We all need healthy, efficient, and environmentally-friendly ways of getting around. Air quality is worsening, traffic congestion is growing, and fiscal pressures are limiting our solutions for these problems. The more single-occupant vehicles (SOVs) there are on the road, the worse the problems of pollution and congestion become. In 1997, SOVs comprised 46,000 (44%) of all person-trips made to and from UBC (source: UBC Transportation Survey, 1998). Continued dependence on this form of travel is not sustainable, and will not help us achieve the goals of a complete, healthy community.
Changing our commuting habits is achievable, but it will take time, and must be done in an appropriate manner. Members of the UBC community need viable alternatives to SOVs that consider both time and money constraints. Practical solutions include uncrowded and reliable transit service; flexible car/van pool programs; comfortable and secure bicycle/pedestrian facilities; accessible campus shuttle systems; and flexible work/study programs. UBC is the second largest commuter destination in the GVRD, and is perched at the western edge of a massive regional service area. In light of UBC’s geographical and jurisdictional realities, providing effective SOV-alternatives will depend heavily on regional partnerships (e.g. for an improved level of transit service).
The STP has been developed as a response to:
- Metro Vancouver and UBC Official Community Plan commitments to reduce SOV and heavy truck traffic, and address regional health and safety problems;
- Increased campus access and mobility needs; and
- UBC President Martha Piper’s Trek 2010 vision to remove access barriers, improve student services, promote inclusive change processes, attract/retain the best personnel, and create a livable community.
Our mandate was to develop an STP to meet our Official Community Plan commitments. These commitments include the pursuit of:
- Improved transportation choices to, from, and across campus;
- 20% Single Occupant Vehicle (SOV) Reduction by November 2002;
- A UBC U-TREK Card program (a U-Pass for UBC residents, faculty, and staff), a collaboration between the AMS, the City of Vancouver, and TransLink.
