VANCOUVER — There is only one high school in New Westminster, and getting there from most places in the city is a trek. Students living in the Queensborough neighbourhood are especially inconvenienced, their geographical proximity resulting in a commute that often takes an hour and a half — each way.In January 2024, they received some respite in the form of a special school bus that shuttled learners directly from Queensborough over the bridge and up the hill to New Westminster Secondary. Two years later, despite promises from the BC NDP to keep the service "permanent and free," there are no plans to do so after funding runs out in June.After months of unsuccessfully pleading with the government, a coalition of concerned students, parents, MLAs, and community leaders held a rally outside New Westminster Secondary School on Wednesday calling on Victoria to honour their commitment to students.Among those in attendance were BC Conservative Richmond-Queensborough MLA Steve Kooner and Education Critic Lynne Block. Both questioned why they were the only provincial representatives at the rally, noting that neither Burnaby-New Westminster MLA Raj Chouhan nor New Westminster-Coquitlam MLA Jennifer Whiteside showed up."The provincial government needs to step up," Kooner said. "The budget commitment would not be that much."In total, the service costs around $250,000 per year.."Parents and people in the community believed that it would be free and permanent," Block added. "Now we find out no it was never free — parents do pay a sum each month — and it's not gonna be permanent."She argued the move was indicative of a broader trend of the BC NDP failing to uphold its election promises related to education.Block urged the government to look at things from the perspective of students and parents, pointing out that it hampers the former's ability to get the most out of school and inconveniences the latter by essentially requiring them to drive their kids every morning and afternoon.One parent, Debbie Lindsay, explained that she recently decided to see just how bad her children have it by making the journey from Queensborough to New Westminster Secondary via public transit herself."It was very frustrating," she said. "I couldn't get on the bus; it was full — and that's with 300 kids already on a special school bus. So I had to walk down to Royal City Centre and take the bus from there to the SkyTrain and wait again for another bus."Lindsay argued it was in everyone's best interest to ensure students can get to and from school on a single bus.."I'm just asking for the government to come through on its promise and help our kids get to school in a safe and timely manor," she added, "so they're not late, they're not stressing out, and they can just be kids."Her concerns were shared by a fellow Queensborough parent, who pointed out that for many families, the bus "isn't optional" and that they "planned their lives around [the BC NDP's] promise.""If this service is cut at the end of the school year, the impact will be immediate," she said. "Those students don't disappear. They get replaced by 300 or more cars trying to cross and already congested Queensborough Bridge twice a day. That means worse traffic, more frustration, and more safety risks for everyone."A number of students shared their perspectives, arguing that while public transit is great for getting around town, it's not ideal for travelling to and from school, especially in a time crunch. Some also cited safety risks aboard buses at certain times of day."School starts at 8:00, and if it takes an hour, you're leaving your house before 7 in the morning, which is really hard," one student added..Also in attendance was New Westminster City Councillor Daniel Fontaine."The fact that we don't even know whether or not that bus is going to continue is, in my perspective, shameful," he told the crowd. "You should not be having to come here today to rally about something that you were promised by the government back in 2024."Fontaine emphasized that "a students postal code should never determine their access to education," adding that despite a population of 90,000, there is only one public high school in New Wesminster for all 2,600 students."We've had a lot of growth in this city and we're the second most dense city in all of Canada," he noted. "All that density that should unlock some funding from Victoria ... Everyone from Queensborough has to come over to this side of the river to go to school. The least that the premier and the province can do is ensure that when those kids from Queensborough who don't have their own high school are able to get here on time and not completely overtired because they've had to get up at an ungodly hour to get to school."The provincial budget is set to be released on February 17. Parents and students have not received any information regarding whether future funding for the school bus will be included therein.
