Pam Gray knows first-hand how many members of the Western community are being affected by the transit strike.
A systems analyst with the Registrar’s Office, Gray was part of the team that built Western’s Share-a-Ride carpool program in the days leading up to the strike. And as of Nov. 26, there were 809 people registered in the system, 82 per cent of whom were students looking for rides.
Numerous external websites already existed for London commuters, including Carpool.ca, Kijiji and Craig’s List. However, in the interest of safety, Western established its own online carpool system, accessible only by members of the campus community with Western user names and passwords.
Gray is enthusiastic about the online Share-a-Ride program as a way to help staff, students and faculty affected by the strike. But her excitement doesn’t stop with creating the program: she’s also a user.
“I was the first employee to register for the Share-a-Ride program,” said Gray, who lives in the Whitehills neighbourhood, a one-hour walk from campus. “I registered as both a driver and a rider.”
Gray has been taking the bus to campus for the last four years, but during the strike her husband Dave has committed to driving her every day. The couple is keen to help students stranded by the transit strike, and they’ve established a regular pick-up at 7:10 every morning for students seeking rides.
“Since the strike began [on Monday, Nov. 16], we’ve driven anywhere from one to four students every day,” said Gray.
The carpool arrangement works fine for Gray’s husband. A retired 3M employee, Dave Gray is currently studying geography and sociology part-time at Western and is on campus twice a week for class. He graduates this spring with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In addition to registering for the Share-a-Ride program, the couple is participating in USC’s Flag-a-Ride program, which places ‘Mustangs Moving Mustangs’ signs in the windows of vehicles offering rides.
Gray is impressed at how university employees have pulled together to help out during the transit strike: “The last time I saw this kind of accommodating attitude on campus was during a strike of one of the campus unions, where the non-union workers took shifts in the residence kitchens to make sure our students were well fed.”