There’s a new $1,500 Cycling Benefit coming, but you need to decline parking by Sept 30

The new contract is not inked yet, but this exciting new climate-friendly benefit will almost certainly be part of it. Read on to make sure you don’t lock yourself out of it.

There is a lot more to come with respect to our new Collective Agreement (see my latest Bargaining Bulletin for more). The crux of the matter is that we have reached tentative agreement on nearly all of our proposals, but they don’t come into effect until the Arbitrator issues his ruling in early November. 

That means that even though we have agreed to a new Alternative Transportation Plan (ATP), it won’t come into force until then. But, because it was drafted with this academic year in mind, in order to be able to access it in November, you need to act now.

Your Union Card is a Bus Pass

Previously, if you declined parking privileges for a year, you received an annual ProPass transit pass for Greater Victoria. If you still want to receive that pass, you don’t need to do anything. Your ProPass will automatically renew this month as usual. If you are new to Camosun or want to start taking transit to Campus, you can apply as usual through CAM-Motion.

When the new agreement becomes live, every faculty member–continuing or term, full- or part-time–will be eligible for a BC Transit EcoPass whether or not they decline parking. 

The ATP Fund will provide the funding for the EcoPass program, along with the other transportation benefits described below. The new plan is intended to give faculty more options for using climate-friendly transportation while maintaining the option of parking on campus.

There is a new $1,500 Cycling Benefit, but you need to decline parking by September 30

The other benefit of the new ATP is a $1,500 reimbursement benefit that can be spent on “the purchase, lease, maintenance, or repair of a new or used bicycle or e-bike, including associated equipment.” This is $1,500 total over the life of this contract–that is, until April 2029–so you don’t need to spend all or any of it this academic year. 

But if you think you might want to access the $1,500 Cycling Benefit before August 2027, you should decline parking privileges before September 30 this year (email ac.nusomac@noitom-mac to opt out of your parking privileges).

It’s important to note that this new ATP Benefit is not yet formally part of our contract, but it has been tentatively agreed to by the parties and we fully expect it to become part of the new agreement following arbitration. The new greensheeted language says that in order to be eligible, you must decline parking in September of the academic year of eligibility.

Since the contract will not come into effect until after September 30, there is a technical gap between the timing of the new agreement and its eligibility requirement.

The College has informed us that it won’t communicate anything about the new ATP Benefit until after the new agreement is finalized. We don’t agree with that approach, but we want members to have all the information they need to make an informed decision about the benefit before the Sept 30 parking deadline (and the arbitrator’s ruling).

For these reasons, the Union is advising any faculty member who might want to use the new Cycling Benefit before August 2027 to act as if the new agreement is already in effect and decline parking privileges by September 30 to make sure they are not disappointed. 

Feature image by Luton

“Green light for the bridge 2012052784 005” by Luton is licensed under CC BY 2.0.