Back to School, but How?

The busiest commuter day of the year? No, not a clearance sale at IKEA. What got people on roads last Tuesday wasn't replacing the dining room but refurbishing the mind.

Tuesday was back to school day. And as a returning student, this begs the question: HOW to get back to school? Like most commuters in Vancouver I have three options, car, bike, or bus.

Entering a technical program at BCIT, my budget is shrinking as rapidly as gas prices increase. Since I lack the equipment and determination to cycle through the rainy months ahead, I initially choose the bus. Just think of all the reading I'll get done!

My first flush of pride in helping to reduce greenhouse gases is soon tempered by a visit to the BC Translink web site. After entering both my departure and destination, the mapping program efficiently churns out my inefficient commute. I will have to take two buses and one Skytrain to school everyday. I have had flights to Eastern Europe with fewer connections! To make matters worse, one of those buses is the #9 Broadway. Jolting between stops and starts on every street corner, this particular trolley runs only slightly faster than a horse drawn carriage without the fresh air or panache.

"How can this be?" I wonder out loud, something students are encouraged to do. My sister, who is pursuing her masters in counseling at UBC this fall, only has to take one EXPRESS bus to school. My sibling rivalry is not eased by the fact that she pays $40 for a year long bus. I will be shelling out $69 per month for my own ticket to ride.

A healthy try at biking

The cost of a commute that can at best be described as "the scenic route" adds fuel to my already existing aversion to public transportation. Every since the outbreak of bird flu, I get nervous about sharing tight quarters with sneezing strangers.

Good health is important to me, and just this year I ran a marathon. With this thought in mind I reconsider the bike.

Waking up on the first day of classes, full of the naive aspirations of, well, a student on the first day of classes, I determine to cycle to school. This time I look to the internet for a bike route from Fraser and Broadway to BCIT. The Vancouver City web site has many helpful maps and descriptions of cycling paths, none of which go to BCIT. I can't help but notice that my sister can cycle all the way along the off-Broadway route to UBC's lush peninsula of higher learning.

Since it is still the first day of classes, I am not so easily discouraged. I next look to the City of Burnaby website. I am met with the following description of the bike system:

We have received quite a bit of feedback from the community on Burnaby's existing network and common comments are that it is: disjointed, intimidating, hard to use and hard to follow. Part of the reason for this is the current bike route network is a bit of a secret agent network; you need an intimate knowledge of Burnaby to connect all of the links together. The current number of links shown on the Burnaby Bike Map are not well signed or marked.

Despite the fact that I possess the intelligence to pass the difficult exams and interviews for the highly competitive Broadcasting program at BCIT, I decide to try cycling. A journey that could best be described as a doing a half marathon through Middle Earth.

I end up on dirt paths below the Skytrain, littered with broken bottles and what I choose to believe are popped balloons. I face hills that leave me grinding in the lowest gear and at one point I'm actually cycling on East Broadway, a feat so dangerous it should be a challenge on Fear Factor. Arriving at school, I am graced with hair reminiscent of Sarah Jessica Parker in a cat fight over the last pair of plaid Manolo Blahniks.

Driving ambition

What I learned at my first day of school: Sadly, I am going to drive. The parking costs less than a bus pass. I can reduce my travel time by an hour a day. And, more importantly, I can face my teachers with the clothes and coiffure suited to the professional broadcaster I aspire to be.

There are those who might ask why I don't move closer to the Burnaby BCIT campus. I can only protest that a move east would be contrary to my reason d'etre for going into broadcasting: I want to write about theatre, music, food, and art galleries. All of these can be found a stone's throw from my house, up Main and down Commercial Drive. Trying to do stories on Vancouver while living in the burbs would be like a foreign correspondent reporting on Iraq from their backyard patio.

I am a member of Amnesty International, I refuse plastic bags at stores, yet, I feel driven to drive. Perhaps I am not the only one who needs to. Seems like the city could use a few lessons on providing commuters with a safe, affordable, and efficient options that are less convoluted than the instructions for IKEA furniture.

Jean Paetkau is a freelance writer returning to school this fall.