Dr. Norbert H. Haunerland, Professor
The spectacular location of SFU on top of Burnaby mountain has one major drawback: almost everyone who works or studies here has to commute up the hill. With scarce parking,single occupancy vehicles are not the preferred transport mode. SFU is readily accessible by public transit, and all students are enrolled in the U-pass program which gives unlimited access to buses and skytrain.
A healthy and environmentally sound alternative is cycling to SFU. While many are afraid of cycling on busy streets and are scared of the big hill, it is not as difficult as one may think. I have been cycling up the hill on a daily basis for more than 10 years - it is fun, safe, efficient and invigorating.
Whether you come from West, South, or East, you have to climb essentially from sea level to the top of the hill (370 m). It is no fun to fight heavy traffic; fortunately, a system of reasonably quit streets and trails provides safe access. The GVRD commuter cycling map makes it easy to find these.
Vancouver and Burnaby have build an exemplary network of bike routes. My colleague Dr. Luis Goddyn has a detailed description of his commute from Vancouver on his website. Unfortunately, the cities of Port Moody and Coquitlam are not very bicycle-friendly. Still, it is possible to commute to SFU with minimal exposure to vehicular traffic, using sidestreets and trails. My daily commute goes from the Port Moody Northshore to SFU, via the Inlet bike trail, residential streets and the trans-Canada trail up the North side of the mountain. The trail is packed gravel, so a mountainbike is required.
For a more detailed view of the centre of Port Moody, click here. The continuation on the trails is shown here.
