C-Tran's Chris Selk provided an interesting and timely update on system changes, effective September 1, 2016 during last night's meeting of the Rotary Club of Three Creeks, held for the first time at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.

Selk turned the floor over to our own Chuck Green - project manager for the transit agency's bus rapid transit project known as "The Vine" - for a brief description of the BRT project. This project, the largest capital project in C-Tran's history, will connect Vancouver Mall with downtown Vancouver, mainly along the Fourth Plain corridor to relieve congestion, improve service and allow passengers to pay for fares on the platform before boarding. The Vine will also include raised platforms for wheelchairs and bicycles to roll directly onto buses, reducing the stop time at each station along the corridor.

C-Tran is also making some system changes to create efficiency on all routes, and continues to look at how to reverse recent trend of declining ridership, It was a very interesting presentation and we're fortunate to have had Chris present to our club.

Fifteen people turned out for last night's meeting, and we received one more charter application, bringing us to a total of 19!

The Rotary Club of Three Creeks had another really good meeting last night. Our second off-site meeting was hosted by the fine folks at Washington State University Vancouver, where we not only got a great update of all of the very exciting news about the Vancouver campus, we also learned about some really impressive world-class research happening right here in Clark County.

Dr. Allison Coffin, a WSUV research professor, delivered a passionate and fun program about the newly-patented research that she and her team are doing on the campus in Salmon Creek. Did you know tiny little tiger fish have ears? Did you know that they also have "hair cells" along their skin that helps them hear? Did you know, those tiger fish hair cells are invaluable to the Tier I researchers at WSUV?

Well...it's all true!

We are also tickled at the record turnout of 18 people who came to the meeting, and the one new charter application we received last night.

In our second off-site meeting, WSU Vancouver's Jennifer Miltenberger will welcome us to the Chancellor's Boardroom and deliver an update of what's happening at WSUV.

We will then have the privilege to visit an on-campus lab with Dr. Alli Coffin for a presentation on her cutting-edge research focused on hearing loss and prevention.

The Chancellor's Conference Room is located on the second floor of the Dengerink Administration Building (Building D - click here for a campus map).

Please be sure to pay for parking in the lot you choose to park in to avoid getting a ticket.