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University Metropass?

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wyliepoon

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Link to article

Metropass built into school fees
Jan. 19, 2006. 01:00 AM
ASTRID POEI
STAFF REPORTER

The Toronto Transit Commission will offer a new discounted Metropass for university students, if universities approve a fee hike to pay for it.

Dubbed the U-Pass, it would be offered to full-time undergraduate students for about $59 per month and would be built into the incidental portion of their post-secondary fees, the TTC announced yesterday. That means students could pay nearly $500 more per year in fees with no opt-out option.

The program is dependent on the participation of at least three of the city's seven post-secondary institutions and must be put to a student referendum, said TTC vice-chair and city councillor Joe Mihevc.

The announcement was based on studies of other discounted student transit passes, he said. If approved, the program could be implemented as early as January 2007.

Currently, Metropasses cost $98.75 a month, but can be purchased at some schools for a discounted rate of about $87.
 
Wow, that's a tough one, students already pay so much. It seems with this program you still pay one way or the other. The main difference will be that all students, whether walkers, drivers or cyclists, will help defray the cost of transit use. If it is an incentive to move people from car use to transit use than there could be some justification. Wouldn't help much with the cyclists or walkers unless we assume that bikes and pedestrians require transit at other times or would be helped in other ways by less traffic on the roads/campus. Getting young people used to transit could be another goal. I think this proposal will help some and hurt others.

I do understand why the TTC does not want to fund the student pass as it recieves no extra money from government for this, and it is not based on income qualifications (even if TTC were a social service). All in all I think there must be a fairer way of making transit (or education) more affordable, unless benefits can be proven. The test of having non-pass users defray the cost of transit might be, what are non pass users costing the University, society etc? What are the benefits of getting more students to use transit?
 
Sounds like you need a corporate sponsor. VanCity Credit Union sponsors Translink's U-Pass for UBC and SFU students.

Cost for UBC students is $22/month.
Cost for SFU students is $98 a term ($24.50/month).

From the UBC site below:

U-PASS as compared to other transit passes and driving to UBC:
U-Pass for 8 months : $176.00;
One Zone Transit Pass for 8 months: $552.00;
Two Zone Transit Pass for 8 months: $760.00;
Three Zone Transit Pass for 8 months: $1040.00;
Cost of driving to UBC for 8 months* $1000+ (Parking Pass $665, insurance, gas);

Student referendums to extend the Vancity U-Pass Program at SFU and UBC until August 2008, add a summer U-Pass at UBC, and increase the monthly fee for students passed successfully. The SFU referendum had 83% of voters in favour and the UBC vote had the biggest turnout of any election in the history of UBC with over 90% of voters in favour of continuing the Vancity U-Pass. The fee change takes effect in September 2005 and is guaranteed for three years.

www.translink.bc.ca/Trans...u-pass.asp

www.upass.ubc.ca/

students.sfu.ca/upass/faqs.html
 
There must be something in the math here I'm missing...

Even assuming that students will use a Metropass 12 months a year, which isn't likely, they'd save $28 a month on the Metropass, over 12 months being $336. Why would this make tuition raise by $500? Especially considering not everyone will make use of the passes?

I think overall this will only make sense and pass student referendums if the university fees only go up by $100 or so, enough to make the pass worthwhile, and an amount that the students who choose not to get the passes will subsidize the others from the $100 fee. Assuming a more reasonable 8 months of having a pass, it's $224 in savings. Meaning basically if around 40-45% of students get the pass, the finances will all work out, with there being more incentive for transit use, but not an unreasonable raise in fees.

Even then, it may not pass at campuses such as York. I'd love a cheap metropass, but what's the point? It takes an hour and a half to get to school from my central etobicoke house. 20 minutes by driving. So I'd be one of the students who would not get a Metropass almost regardless of how cheap it was, and there's likely others like me. Still, overall anything that will encourage more people to use transit is good, but it has to make financial sense for the majority of students... and if it goes forward as mentioned in the article, it makes sense to zero students...
 
500 bucks is far too much to ask the 50% of non commuting students to pay. Even if university students had to pay $100 for a metropass, they would still save thousands of dollars a year compared to the other half of students who rent appartments near their universities. Therefore forcing all students to cover the discount is wrong and unfair.

I am in full support of cheaper metropasses for students because I myself had to commute at one time. But because students benefit society by getting educated, society in general (ie everyone) should subsidize university metropasses. If I as a non commuting student will have to subsidize a metropass, then commuting students should have to subsidize my vastly more expensive rent.
 
It's a tricky issue. What do you do for somewhere like York, where students can use one of three systems to get to campus? It would only work for U of T Scarborough and St. George, Ryerson, George Brown, maybe Humber (but the North Campus is served by BT and MT as well as GO). A place like Carleton, Guelph or Queen's or Western is more suited for this type of program, as there is only one transit option for students of those schools. Mac has a similar program too, IIRC, but an increasing number of its students take GO.
 
Humber is a part of the VIP program - students and faculty can buy a Metropass for $88.75 at the bookstore. Limited quantities, student or faculty ID required, one per person.

I'd prefer that to what is proposed above. I don't buy passes some months when I know I won't get my money's worth (i.e. December, February). I can only imagine the uproar among car-commuters at Humber if such a program was implemented.
 
In Germany university is free for everyone, and as a student, public transportation in your university's city is also completely free. I never paid a dime for transportation when I was studying in Berlin a few years ago. Now that's a fantastic idea!
 
At U of Guelph I think we paid approx. $150/ every school year for unlimited use of the transit system. Just had to flash your student ID and off you went.
 
www.usc.uwo.ca/buspass/default.htm

Western also has a bus pass built into its tuition. I guess it's probably the biggest reason why London Transit appears to be doing so well (at least when I go there I see buses on the streets all the time).
 
Any updates on this?

I'm ambivalent about this. I support something like this in principle, but I think $500 is too much to ask from people who will not be using it especially if I only save $100-$200 a year. (If I go to school everyday, two semesters, that's around 7-8 months of the year. At $80 per month (@ four weeks per month), I spend $560 to $640 a year on TTC tickets to get to school. + $40 tor $60 on other TTC trips)

The following is from an email from www.uoftsac.com

[5] TTC and the Universal Pass - Quick Update

As many of you are likely aware, the TTC floated an idea that would see all students pay a fee in return for an annual TTC Metropass, also called a Universal Pass. SAC has received many questions from students inquiring into what action we will take, and whether there would be a referendum this year on the issue.

At this point, SAC has not seen the specific details of the proposal. When more concrete details emerge, we want your thoughts and opinions. In the future, SAC will host a TTC Town Hall so that students can give their input directly. Without a full consultation with students and a detailed analysis on the plan, SAC will not be going to a referendum on this issue this year.

If youíd like to share your thoughts on this issue write now, please email your Vice-President External, Jennifer Hassum. Your feedback is more than welcome!

For more information contact:
Vice-President External, Jen Hassum
vpexternal@sac.utoronto.ca
 
Humber's HSF shot it down as too expensive. They are looking for a further discount on the VIP program. At what the TTC wanted, it was akin to robbery of the non-commuting crowd and never would have made it through the opt-in vote.
 
There are 13 weeks of class per semester, plus two weeks of exams. Assume the average student has class on 4.5 days out of 5 because lots of people have a day off. As for exams, assume 5 trips to school since most people have 5 exams per semester. In total, that's 63.5 commutes to school per semester. Multiply times 2 for two trips per day, and multiply by $2 for the cost of tokens. Futher multiply by 2 because there are 2 semesters. End result is that a typical student pays about $510 per school year on tokens.

The proposed $59 a month works out to $472 a year. So in other words, the TTC is asking non commuting students to pay $472 a year so that commuting students can save less than $40! Try paying over $700 a month in rent and food before you complain about an $87 metropass. I'm looking forward to voting this one down.
 
First thing the school should do is identify what percentage of there students need / generally use transit to get to school.

If 60% of students use the transit during school term then use that as the base non-discounted base for the new program. Go to the Ontario government and see if you can have a government subsidy for the student population (not limited to Toronto).

Have an opt-in/opt-out during summer break (two tier) at the same rate as the other rate.

Students usually get a student card -- this should be standardized so that the student card IS the transit pass. One colour for annual fees, one for student term only.

I think that would provide a good foundation for the program.
 
I think that an included metropass would provide many benefits to different parties, and should seriously be considered, despite a meager savings by the commuters. For one, I think the TTC would be well served by getting people hooked on transit. Second, I think it might open up the rest of Toronto for some of the UofT students who tend to stay confined to campus and its surroundings - this would be good for both the city and the students. Finally, I think with an included pass that you would see more than 2 uses a day - you could walk over to yonge and bloor and just hop on the subway back to st. george to save the walk if it were cold out, for instance. I think the powers that be should really push this one.
Simon
 
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