Students in a new Simon Fraser University class are using the upcoming transit plebiscite for some hands-on learning about the connection between health and transportation - and how to boost voter engagement.
The class, called Health and the Built Environment, gives fourth-year students in SFU's faculty of health sciences a chance to explore a topical issue that directly affects them, often on a daily basis.
Coquitlam resident Ericka-Jade Mulherin doesn't drive and relies on the bus and SkyTrain to get from her house near Town Centre Park to school and throughout the region (a commute she describes as "terrible") but said she hadn't heard about the referendum until the class started in January.
"I feel like there's a lot of misinformation about the referendum," Mulherin said, noting that with strong campaigns on both sides of the debate, it can be hard to understand the heart of the issue. In fact, Mulherin admitted that had she not been studying it in class, she likely would have landed on the No side.
"I don't like TransLink as a company, so automatically I wouldn't have wanted to do anything to help them," she said, "but I've learned that's not really what's at stake."
What is at stake, she said, is the development of a transit system to meet not only the current population's needs but also the significant growth that's to come.
In their first assignment, students were tasked with writing a blog post on the referendum. Mulherin's focused on the economic benefits of a Yes vote, pointing out that at 0.5% PST increase will cost, at most, 35 cents a day for a greatly improved transit system within a decade. Alternatively, she wrote, one could save that money and get a new car - in 237 years.
Classmate Danielle DeVries, who lives in Burquitlam, often uses transit but as a student with two jobs, she skips the complicated connections and drives on days when her schedule is particularly packed.
Her blog is posted on the Sustainable SFU site and aims to cut through the "catch-phrases and doomsday warnings" to clarify how the tax will work and what the benefits will be for transit users and drivers alike.
And while she acknowledges that a sales tax, which will place a greater burden on low-income residents, isn't the greatest option, it was the best of the four that were examined.
"And the benefits are just so huge," DeVries said. "We really do need the transit improvements, we need the connections, we need a healthier region."
Assistant professor Meghan Winters, a former Coquitlam resident who graduated from Centennial secondary school, said the class aims to grow student engagement around the referendum, making sure young people are informed and know how to vote.
"It's a great opportunity for students to use the energy and enthusiasm they have, and the knowledge they've learned in this class, to apply to a real-life problem," Winters said. Often, they use the humour typical of a university student, such as comparing the cost of the PST increase to those of a pack of ramen noodles or a few cases of beer a year.
The class, which focuses on the intersection between a city's built environment and residents' health, has partnered with CityStudio, a collaborative project that brings together students, stakeholders and Vancouver city staff to address challenges in the city. Students will present their final media project to an upcoming meeting at Vancouver city hall.
Winters said more than 80% of SFU's students and staff take transit to the Burnaby campus so the need for more frequent service, later night buses and a less sardine-like trip to school and work are keenly felt by many. And she hopes her students' work is effective in getting their classmates engaged enough to actually vote - no matter how they vote.
"The big issue for students is that a lot of them are from other places, so they won't be registered with Elections BC," or, if they are, it's likely not with their current address.
"Are they registered? Will they get the ballot? If they get it, will they put it in the mailbox? That's also a very foreign concept," Winters joked, noting students often wonder "Why we can't just do this online?"
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