Despite the rumours, the BC NDP able to find candidates | Matthew Matthew _ | Fearee! Steinbach | | 4 ww news editor Liberals already have almost all their candidates nominated and are readying the beginning of their pecs campaigns in most ridings. The recent NDP has traditionally run full slates | rumours of candidates and have already that have surfaced around BC that the New Democratic Party is having trouble finding candidates to run in the election this May; the party denied any truth to those allegations in a recent interview with The Other Press. Brian Gardiner, a Communications Officer with the BCNDP, explained that there are “85 constituencies, and [they have] nominated or set dates in all but 14 of them.” He went onto explain the reason why this process is still continuing in some ridings though is due to timing or a “need to discuss things with family or their employer.” Gardiner also stated that he believes “in the next week or so dates will be set” for the remaining 14 constituencies. “We will have candidates for all 85 positions,” he said. In contrast though, the BC begun their campaign at the party level by this time, in addition to Vote Smart BC commercials that have been broadcasted on television stations through British Columbia. Carole James, BC NDP leader SkyTrain reaches 1 billion passengers but how did they know it? By Matthew Steinbach, News Editor his week is expected to be the week that SkyTrain carries its 1 billionth passenger since its inception in 1986. But how does TransLink keep track of these numbers to ensure accuracy? Can transit avoid double counting? “We aim to report the number of passengers entering the SkyTrain system, including the high percentage who are transferring from bus, SeaBus or West Coast Express,” said Ian R. Graham, Senior Operations Planner with BCRTC Ltd.-SkyTrain. “However, we exclude train-to-train transfers that exist within the system, such as the large flood between the Millennium and Expo Lines.” He also went into detail about how the actual counts occur. “Ridership is calculated from the number of ticket vending machine (TVM) transactions (complete data records which are analyzed monthly, by station), and a randomized set of fare checks conducted by the Transit Security division of CMBC throughout the year,” he said. This, in conjunction with “other factoring of pass and FareSaver sales, allows the TVM transaction volumes to be scaled up to a calculation of total passenger boardings. These numbers are also cross-checked with occasional direct station entry counts, so we have several sources of providing confidence in the totals.” Graham also said ridership has “increased steadily since 1987... with the small exception... in 2001” when bus strikes occurred because SkyTrain was still able to operate but buses connecting to SkyTrain stations were not leading to a decrease in ridership. Douglas College to hold Student Researcher’s Day ..« By Shaylee Pérez Associate News Editor its first ever Student Researcher’s Day on ouglas College will hold game provides for users. Another project, conducted by a fourth-year Bachelor of Physical Education student of Sport Science instructor Ken Anderson, studies the effect on runners’ performances when Tuesday, March 31". This day is a chance for students of all faculties to showcase their upcoming work and share it with their peers. Students will present their projects on poster boards, and works-in-progress are welcome in addition to completed studies. This opportunity at Douglas College is a chance for the students to share their hard work and meet possible partners or team members for future endeavours. Student Researcher’s Day is also designed to be a forum to discuss and share tips, view an array of projects by fellow students and gain beneficial presentation experience. One project features the trendy Wii Fit video games, and tracks the tangible health benefits the listening to music they like against the results of running while listening to music they don’t enjoy and caffeine’s effect on workout regimes “In conducting research, students actually get an opportunity to contribute to the available knowledge base, as opposed to just “This opportunity at Douglas College is a chance for the students to share their hard work and meet possible partners or team members for future endeavours.” accessing it,” said Anderson. The event will run from 10:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Gymnasium (Room 1100) at the New West campus. Participators will also be entered into a draw to win a $100 gift certificate to the College’s bookstore. For more information, contact Tom Whalley, Scholarly Activity Coordinator, at whalleyt@douglas. be.ca or 604.527.5818.