The University of British Columbia has appointed Gordon Lovegrove
as director of transportation planning.
Lovegrove, who starts his new position Nov. 10 has been involved
in municipal, regional and provincial transportation planning and
development projects in the Lower Mainland and B.C. Interior for
more than 15 years. Most recently, he served as the transportation
planner for the City of Kelowna. In his daily commute, he either
ran, cycled or took transit.
The appointment of a transportation planner is one of the key commitments
made by the university in the Official Community Plan (OCP) for
the UBC area. The plan, approved this summer by the Greater Vancouver
Regional District, calls on the university to pursue a 20 per cent
reduction in single occupancy vehicles travelling to campus. UBC
is also committed to a goal of increasing ridership on BC Transit
to UBC by 20 per cent by the date of the first OCP review.
“There is no car allowance in this job,” said Geoff Atkins, associate
vice-president, Land and Building Services. “We need someone willing
to set a personal example if we are going to reduce auto dependence
on this campus by 20 per cent over the next five years. Gord’s lifestyle,
energetic personality and strong background is a good fit for UBC
and will help us achieve our goals.”
Under the OCP, the university will work in partnership with the
City of Vancouver, BC Transit and others to ease traffic volumes
in several ways, including: removal of free parking along Ministry
of Transportation and Highways-controlled roadways near campus;
encouragement of telecommuting; and implementation of a U-Pass system
to encourage and provide alternatives to automobile use.
UBC will spend $250,000 a year on the U-Pass system which will
be similar to the highly successful University of Washington program
that offers increased bus service, campus shuttles, free carpool
parking, vanpools and bike lockers. The university will also attempt
to reduce the impact on adjoining neighbourhoods of truck traffic
to and from campus.
During his career, Lovegrove has built strong working relationships
with many of the stakeholders critical to the success of the university’s
strategic transportation plan, Atkins said. These include B.C. Transit,
the City of Vancouver, the Ministry of Transportation and Highways
and the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
Lovegrove has a degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree
in transportation planning, both from UBC, and an MBA from SFU.
His work experience includes nine years as a special projects engineer
and transportation planning and design engineer with the City of
Vancouver and five years as the transportation traffic engineer
with the Township of Langley.
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