U-Pass gets passed

By Joel McNally

The proposed U-Pass has leapt another hurdle on the road to becoming a reality for undergraduate students attending the University of Calgary.

The U-Pass proposal entails an agreement between the U of C Students’ Union and Calgary Transit that, if accepted, would require that all students pay a fee of $50 per semester to Calgary Transit. In exchange, all full-time students at the U of C would be granted unlimited access to busses and trains with a valid U of C campus card.

"Most of the discussion was really intelligent," said SU Vice-President of Operations and Finance Natasha Dhillon. "We [the SLC] focused on whether this was a good question to pose to students and was this the best deal we could have gotten."

The Students’ Legislative Council passed the vote by a 14 to 2 majority with no abstentions.

"The 14 to 2 vote showed that the U-Pass is worthy of being voted on by the student population," said Peter Fraser, Director of Ancillary Services, who was involved in U-Pass negotiations with Calgary Transit.

"I’m very unhappy," said SU Operations and Finance Commissioner Mark Counsell. "Forcing 20,000 students to pay for something only 20 per cent will use amounts to a social program."

The U-Pass proposal was changed in a number of ways by Calgary Transit during final negotiations. The current proposal has no provision for faculty and staff members to opt-in to the undergraduate pass as was previously suggested, though the option has not been eliminated.

"In our letter of understanding [in Calgary Transit] we agree to continue to negotiate regarding a potential faculty and staff program," said Fraser.

"I don’t think that students should be subsidizing anybody’s pass," countered Dhillon.

Calgary Transit also declined to promise to extend service hours or add new routes part of the U-Pass agreement, citing the half-million dollar expense for a one-hour extension on C-Train service as a reason. The possibility, however, is being examined.

"They’re warming to the idea and I think that we’ll see at least some trial runs to assess demand," said Fraser regarding C-Train extension.

Some concerns raised in SLC targeted Calgary Transit’s insistence that the U-Pass be ‘revenue neutral,’ meaning that income from the U of C, if the U-Pass is accepted, would remain the same.

"What it’s doing is taking the cost of a transit pass and redistributing it across all students," said Counsell. "The only way it can work is if the majority of people don’t use it."

"There is considerable consternation about some students supporting others," agreed Fraser. "But this is the case with all fees."

U-Pass proponents countered this argument by claiming that the U-Pass would also benefit those students who are unwilling or unable to use transit by increasing available parking, reducing traffic and reducing emissions.

"A universal pass has been successful on other campuses at reducing demand for vehicle traffic," said Calgary Transit negotiator David McDonald.

If the U-Pass is approved by students, qualifying students will receive a sticker for their campus card each year that will provide access to the transit system.

Students can vote on the U-pass from March 13-15.