U-Pass initiative creeps along
By Simon Grant
The university administration and student society are taking small steps following the lead of other universities who have implemented a universal bus pass (U-Pass) for all students. While planning for the pass remains in its early stages, proponents of the U-Pass say that it would improve bus service, decrease traffic congestion, and free up parking spaces on campus.
In exchange for a small increase in student fees, the U-Pass would allow students to use their student cards as bus passes. U-Pass programs currently exist at several other universities across Canada, including Trent, McMaster, and the University of Western Ontario.
Diane Yeager, manager of revenue operations for Campus Security, expressed her interest in bringing the U-Pass program to SFU. She said that current conditions favour driving to campus, and increasing the feasibility of transit services could free up parking spaces on the mountain.
“Right now it’s cheaper to buy parking than it is to buy a [bus] pass,” she said. “So why buy a transit pass when you can come up here and park?”
Yeager said that having the U-Pass at SFU would be “great,” and added that she hoped the student body could get behind the initiative. “If somebody in the student body is willing to push it forward, then I would want to work with them,” she said.
Incoming SFSS president Dave Crossley echoed Yeager’s commitment to the U-Pass program. Crossley said that although he has not spoken with BC Transit or the university on the issue, an SFSS survey conducted in January found student response to the idea of a U-Pass to be “very favourable.”
He said that the student society will be leading a special BC Transit working group in the summer semester, which will be open to all students and which will be discussing issues such as the U-Pass.
As the U-Pass would require an increase in student fees, it would need to be approved in a general referendum. Crossley said that he hopes this referendum could be held in the 1999 Fall semester or the 2000 Spring semester.
Crossley added that he has been following the progress of the U-Pass initiative at the University of Victoria, and plans to speak with members of the UVic Students’ Society for suggestions on how to bring the pass to SFU.
The University of Victoria and Camosun College have each held referenda this semester in which students voted to implement a universal bus pass (U-Pass) for September. At UVic, 68 per cent of students voted for the pass – the highest student election turnout in 20 years.
While increasing student fees by $44 a semester, the U-Pass system will allow UVic and Camosun students to use their regular student card as a bus pass. At $11 per month, the U-Pass represents an approximate 75 per cent savings over the regular price of bus passes.
Chris Foord, Marketing Manager for BC Transit in Victoria and the main overseer of the U-Pass program in Victoria, said that he has been an enthusiastic supporter of the pass since he was a student at Queen’s University. The Kingston, Ontario school has had a U-Pass-style program in place since 1968.
Foord said that there are many more benefits to implementing the U-Pass than the obvious savings and added convenience for regular transit riders. Even those students who drive to school can expect less congested traffic and improved parking access on campus, he said. And if students want to take a bus occasionally, they won’t have to worry about finding correct change because with the U-Pass, “You’ve got a bus pass in your pocket.”
Universities also serve to benefit from a U-Pass, he said. In the case of UVic, their current five year plan contains “about $1.5 million” worth of parking lots to be constructed, which may no longer need to be built. He also suggested that the next building sites at UVic could come out of today’s parking lots rather than out of popular green space.
Foord also suggested that the U-Pass could be transported across the Georgia Strait to SFU. “At Simon Fraser, where parking is extremely limited, I think there’s great potential for this kind of an idea.”
Officials at BC Transit in the Lower Mainland were less enthusiastic.
Karen Hodgson, Transit Demand Manager for BC Transit in Vancouver, said that since she last spoke with former Parking Services Manager Sheila Groves several years ago, bringing the U-Pass to SFU has slipped from BC Transit’s priority list.
“We haven’t followed it up with SFU since then because to be honest things are creeping along at a snail’s pace with UBC … and until we address that problem, we can’t do SFU either,” she said.
Groves was quick to point out, however, that putting UBC first was “not preferential treatment, by any means.”
She expressed hope that with transit services switching from BC Transit’s jurisdiction to that of the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority (GVTA) on April 1, the U-Pass may be looked at more seriously. The GVTA’s 1999 Program Plan contains no mention of a U-Pass program.
Steve Allen, Manager of Marketing with the University of Western Ontario Students’ Council, said that Western faced a similar lack of support when it first approached the London Transit Corporation (LTC) about the possibility of a U-Pass several years ago.
“Our local transit authority was really not very warm to the idea, so it took some convincing on our part to have them even look at it or consider it seriously,” he said.
Student response to the pass was more favourable, Allen said. In a 1998 referendum, more than 70 per cent of Western students voted in favour of the pass. Western’s universal pass is covered by a $75 levy in student fees every eight months. It represents an 82 per cent discount from the regular price of bus passes.
Allen said that opposition to the U-Pass originally came from some students who lived on campus and those who drive to campus, but since the pass was implemented in September 1998 it has won the support of its detractors.
“Students have really taken ownership of this because everyone can use it, it’s a good deal, and it’s highly used.”
Allen also said that since the pass was implemented in September, bus usage has “gone through the roof,” and almost every student who’s eligible for a bus pass has picked one up.
To cope with the increased demand, the LTC has beefed up bus service to the university by adding new routes and express services. And since the pass was implemented, Allen said, the usually-frenetic lineup of students looking to buy parking passes has virtually disappeared.
The biggest downside of the U-Pass at Western, according to Allen, is the added congestion on rush hour buses. Although he said that the LTC has done a good job of accommodating the increased demand, “there are certain times of the day when the bus is so packed it’s hard to get a seat.”
Still, the U-Pass has been a positive addition to Western, he said, and he would “absolutely” recommend it to other universities.
Since September, he said, the U-Pass has gone from being a cash savings for transit riders to a “sacred cow” issue for all students, including residents and students who drive to campus.
“It’s amazing … I’m blown away, because it just happened in the first year.”
