As faculty at Washington State University Vancouver, we strongly urge the citizens of Clark County to stand with us as we recommend C-Tran maintain its commitment to public transportation, including Route 19’s trip to the WSUV campus.
Arguments that the WSU Vancouver stop needs to be cut in order to ensure continuation of the stop at the Legacy Salmon Creek Clinic foster the untenable claim that undergraduate bus riders at WSUV, many of whom are low-income, should foot the bill for other low-income bus riders.
We reject this logic. Our students already face untold socioeconomic hardships; many of them also have serious chronic health issues. The quarter-mile walk students would be forced to make to reach the off-campus bus stop, including during adverse weather conditions, would compound the existing challenges that WSUV bus commuters already face. Many take two to three buses to campus while carrying heavy book bags and laptops. The walk will pose particular security concerns for evening students.
As Clark County grows and lays claim to a reputation of being a national leader in sustainable planning, city and county governments need to work to expand, not curtail, public transportation and ensure that the only public university in Southwest Washington remains genuinely public and accessible to all.