25 years and 87 trips around the earth
On Wednesday April 22, staff at the VGH Commuter Centre celebrated the 25th anniversary of Canada’s first community-based traffic solution. The Cambie Corridor Consortium formed when VGH got together with colleagues from the nearby sites of BCTF, VPD, ICBC, Vancity and the City of Vancouver to “find better ways to get around in the Cambie Corridor.”
To date, their most successful project has been the Inter-Hospital Shuttle. Prior to the start of this service, health authority staff having to travel to meetings between sites would need to use their own car and claim mileage and parking, or use a hospital-issued taxi voucher. Many people who might have chosen to walk, cycle or take transit ended up driving so that they would have their car on standby for appointments.
Bruce and Bett at the Cambie Corridor Consortium 25th anniversary celebration.
In October 1996, Bett Lauridsen gained permission to launch a three-month trial period of an Inter-Hospital Shuttle Service linking UBCH and VGH; one shuttle operated on an hourly schedule. The service was well received, but the common complaint was the long wait between shuttles. Within months, that service frequency doubled.
September 1997 saw service expanded to six shuttles linking 14 sites. As passenger needs and numbers became known, the service was modified to its present model: five shuttles servicing VGH, UBC Hospital, St. Paul’s, BC Cancer Agency, BC Centre for Disease Control, GF Strong, Children’s & Women’s, and Mount St. Joseph. The Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry, and the Department of Nursing are included at UBC site.
Michael Longo, one of our very busy shuttle drivers.
The shuttle employs 12 drivers in either a full- or part-time capacity; half of whom have been with us for over 10 years. Three of them (Bruce Lauridsen, Angelo Longo and Michael Longo) have been driving the Inter-Hospital Shuttles since 1997! (Angelo drove one shift in 1996!)
In 1998, the service began couriering items between these same sites. To date, over 850,000 items have been shuttled across sites. With no fee for this added service, the hospitals claim it saves them tens of thousands of dollars per year in outside couriers! (If you use the courier service, please use a label!)
Win a VCH umbrella
How many shifts did Angelo drive in 1996? Tell him and you could win one of 20 VCH umbrellas (one awarded per shuttle trip).
Jacqueline
Kudos to this program and the people who are part of it! I took shuttles as a student in the late 90’s , as faculty recently, and all the long Angelo and Bruce have been fantastic! Thank you so very, very much!
Al Dizon
Angelo Longo drove 1(one) shift in 1996.
Lorelei Todd
Angelo Longo drove 1 shift in 1996. How would anyone be able to contact Angelo without knowing his email address or phone number. Ta.
Arthur Orsini
Even better than email or phone is a friendly smile when he greets each rider IN PERSON every half hour at either UBC and VGH (i.e. Talk to him in person and he’ll hand you the umbrella!)