Access and Diversity (A&D) is unveiling a new shuttle service that can transport individuals who are unable to walk long distances across campus.
Having been in talks since 2016, the service will be launched as a pilot project this May. Previously a collaborative project between A&D, the AMS as well as Campus and Community Planning, its initial launch will now be headed by only A&D.
“Once the demand is established and we understand what the need is, we’ll look to decide on a permanent home,” said A&D Director Janet Mee.
According to Mee, the service will run on a “pick-up-and-delivery” model that will transport members of the UBC community and visitors with mobility challenges throughout the campus’s pedestrian core, which consists of the buildings and areas surrounding Main Mall.
“It will get people, for example, from the bus loops, from some key parking lots and also locations close to some of the residences that are on the perimeter of the Vancouver campus into the pedestrian core,” she said.
Mee described the vehicle as “a large golf cart” that can hold three passengers and a driver. Unlike a general golf cart, however, it has windows, a door and a roof. It is also wheelchair-accessible.
Students registered with A&D for accommodations for mobility-based disabilities will automatically be eligible to use the shuttle. Students with temporary mobility disabilities, such as an injury, can also go through A&D to access the service on a short-term basis. Visitors and campus residents can use the shuttle on an “honour system” where they don’t need to provide documentation to use it once or twice.
This is not the first approach UBC and A&D have taken to accommodate individuals with mobility challenges.
For example, students can ask a professor to move a classroom if the student is unable to walk the distance between that room and their previous classroom. They can also get priority access to parking spots and registration in courses, and a TransLink community shuttle service is available for travelling around the campus perimeter.
“This is really just one more way that we’re trying to improve access,” said Mee.
Since this is a new service, A&D will debut it in a “soft launch” that will give them time to fine tune the service over the summer. Mee anticipates that a full launch will arrive in late August or early September.
“We haven’t done a lot of advertising ... because we don’t really know what the demand will be, and we’re starting with one shuttle van,” she said. “We want to be able to work out the kinks and evaluate our early assumptions about demand and routing and travel times.”
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