Universities plan for students as transit workers strike, affects classes

Many across Metro Vancouver are trying to understand how to get around Monday, as CUPE 4500, the union representing Coast Mountain Bus Company transit supervisors, confirmed its members walked off the job early Monday morning.

Both the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) have been working on alternate plans for students, as some locations of these schools are difficult to get to without transit.

“Many students, faculty, and staff rely on public transit, and we appreciate a potential disruption be challenging,” UBC said Sunday afternoon.

In a post to X Monday morning, the university confirmed some classes have moved online due to the strike.

UBC’s campus will remain open during the strike, it says, but students should check with their instructors to see if other arrangements are made. This could include having classes move online or “providing content asynchronously.”

The school says employees who perform necessary work are expected to report to work.

SFU says it has similar plans, with some instructors intending to move online or run asynchronously. Some classes may need to be cancelled. Students are asked to check with their instructors.

“We recognize that the majority of our students rely on transit, and a shutdown of this magnitude will have a large impact,” SFU said.

SFU also says extra parking is being made available on their Burnaby and Surrey campuses.