The Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS), a group dedicated to preserving Wreck Beach in "as nearly a natural state as possible," staged a nude demonstration Sunday to protest TransLink's relocation of a bus stop near the beach.
The C20 shuttle stop was relocated a block east in April, from Marine Drive and University Boulevard — less than 100 metres from the top of Trail 6 — to Lower Mall, about 280 metres away. WBPS chair Judy Williams feels that the stop move will make it more difficult for people with disabilities and small children to access the beach.
"If you're a parent with children and equipment and whatnot, by the time you get to the top of those stairs, it's a pretty arduous thing where you're all sweaty and hot. If you're handicapped like I am, to go much farther than across the street is almost an impossibility," said Williams.
The main reason the WBPS is upset with the change, explained Williams, is the lack of consultation from TransLink before the decision was finalized. The WBPS is listed on UBC's stakeholder notification list (bottom of page 13) — the list of groups to be consulted before transit changes are implemented in areas which affect those groups — but Williams says that they were never contacted.
"UBC said to them, 'You'd better contact the WBPS,' and they chose not to do that. They really, really shafted us. TransLink thinks that they're almighty gods," she said.
TransLink notes that service on the C20 route was one-way before the move, which meant potentially longer rides, depending on the way riders were travelling. The company is currently attempting to provide two-way service throughout the entire transit system, as it "usually makes our service more convenient for customers and our overall system more efficient," according to TransLink Media Relations Advisor Chris Bryan.
"The change we’ve made to the C20 route is in response to customers, who for some years now have been asking for two-way service at UBC," said Bryan said in an emailed statement.
TransLink acknowledged that moving the bus stop to the Lower Mall would mean a slightly longer walk those on their way to Wreck, but that they deemed the Lower Mall stop the "best mid-point" that also serves customers at the main population centres further east on the campus.
The WBPS has launched a petition as one last attempt to reverse — or at least protest — TransLink's decision to move the stop. The petition currently has 71 signatures — once it has at least 1,000, the group plans to send it to BC Minister Responsible for TransLink Peter Fassbender and TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond.
"We'd like them to both come down to the beach and have a meeting with us. We'll just be naked," said Williams.
—With files from Samantha McCabe