UBC’s new director of transportation planning, Gordon Lovegrove, takes his
advocacy of car-free commuting seriously. He ran, cycled or occasionally rode
a bus to his previous workplace.
“To prove that I could commute to work by foot seven kilometres each day,
even through harsh winter weather, was really a growth experience — like a
personal iron man regime,” he said.
Lovegrove, who starts at UBC Nov. 10, will be responsible for all university
transportation planning and reports to Geoff Atkins, associate vice-president,
Land and Building Services.
The position of transportation planner was created by the university as part
of the Official Community Plan for the UBC campus.
The plan, approved this summer by the university and the Greater Vancouver
Regional District (GVRD), calls on the university to pursue a 20 per cent reduction
of single occupancy vehicles travelling to campus.
“There is no car allowance in this job,” said Atkins. “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.”
Lovegrove 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.
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 GVRD.
Lovegrove spent 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.
He has a degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in transportation
planning, both from UBC, and an MBA from SFU.
