This is an archived story posted by Ryan Chen-Wing. You can view the original here.

Woodhall is Transportation Demand Management Planner for the Transportation Planning Division of the Planning, Housing and Community Services Department of the Region of Waterloo. Grand River Transit is an operating division of the Region of Waterloo.

In an e-mail Woodhall described her job, "My role is to research, develop, implement, manage, administer, promote and monitor initiatives that increase the use of modes of transportation other than the single occupant vehicle ie. other than driving alone."

On the Survey
"A survey completed by the UW's Survey Research Centre identifies that just under half of students favour a U-Pass initiative on campus. There is a significant percent (10%) who are neutral on the issue. When asked 'what would be a fair price per term to charge all students,' the mean price was $42.40 and the single most common price suggested by students was $50," wrote Woodhall.

In addition to the mean and mode quoted by Woodhall, the median suggested price was $30.00

"While many students said they typically walk to/from campus, there are many other destinations that students typically want to travel to. When asked about the number of trips they took on GRT buses, a majority of students reported that in a typical week they make one to 10 trips between Monday and Friday."

On plans for possible U-Pass
"We met with Brenda Slomka and Mike Kerrigan earlier in the summer (having worked with Yaacov all last school year). During the next few months Brenda and Mike will be meeting with us to discuss the particulars of a U-Pass contract at UW. At the same time, we will continue to inform students about the services that GRT currently offers," said Woodhall.

On 18 July, Slomka said that she and Kerrigan met with Woodhall, Manager of Transit Development Don Cicuttin, and one other employee from the region on July 11.

On recent improvements at GRT
"Since the Region formed Grand River Transit (bringing the previous Kitchener Transit and Cambridge Transit together). They [the recent improvements] include:

Service Changes that impact UW students/staff

• Sept 2001 - improvements were made to Route 7 services weekday and Sunday; a new Route 13 Laurelwood to UW was launched; [and] Routes 9 and 12 Sunday services improved.
• March 2002 - additional service to Cambridge, via Sportsworld, as well as many other service improvements in Cambridge.
• Sept 2002 - New Route 73 Northlake transit service; extra trips on 5 Eastbridge and on 13 Laurelwood; expansion of new service into Highland West neighbourhood.

Communication Initiatives that impact UW students/staff

• GRT published a Service Bulletin in Imprint;
• Five GRT Boards were posted on campus;
• A series of meetings with UW Environment Commission members discussed students concerns and questions about transit services on campus;
• Visitors Centre Ambassadors receive training on using transit in Waterloo Region; A series of communications in the Student Handbook, Frosh Packages and "Don" training will occur for the 2002/2003 school year."

General comments on U-Pass
"A U-Pass is an opportunity for students to achieve affordable transportation — if not for school trips, then for trips to a myriad of other places that students want to go - for social trips, personal business trips, shopping trips, etc.. For example, while a price has not yet been set for a pass, if it was set at the $50 noted by many students, students using transit for just one trip a week would almost break even on the program (i.e. $1.40 x 2 x 17 weeks = $47.60). A U-Pass also enables students to have access to a broader range of housing options. There are many other benefits to students, that have been realized by similar programs on university campuses across Ontario."

• Less than a majority favour UPASS: GRT survey uws 25 Jul 2002
• I pass, you pass, they pass, we all pass Imprint 26 Jul 2002