DURING THE STUDENT Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) elections Feb. 14–16, students at the U of O will be asked to respond to a referendum question on whether to accept the continuation of the U-Pass program at an increased price. A “No” campaign committee has been formed to encourage students to vote against the increase, hoping to draw attention toward the U-Pass price hike.
“Send this unfairly priced U-Pass back to city hall,” said Nicolas Fleet, member of the “No” committee. “It is up to city hall to come up with a number that works well for all students to make transit affordable.”
The price of the U-Pass program to be approved is a 24 per cent increase from the current price—$145 each semester. For the committee, the issue is the service affecting students are being cut while the price is going up.
“We need to see a real value in the service provided to students,” said Amy Hammett, vp student affairs of the SFUO and member of the “No” committee. “We see Roger Guindon Hall students are incredibly affected by the route changes, and there were many letters and complaints written about those changes. [Students are] looking at a higher [price] increase for services that certainly do not live up to the best transit in the country.”
In February 2010, 64 per cent of students voted in favour of the program in the U-Pass referendum. According to Hammett, the referendum was fairly close, and with the price increase on the table, it is likely it won’t get the same amount of support this time around.
The committee’s campaign will focus on talking to students and getting input from the community. The committee will also be doing class presentations to make students aware of the issues surrounding the U-Pass.
“OC Transpo would have to substantially increase service,” said Fleet on what would make the program more effective. “We need to match the service to the increase in price and students aren’t getting 24 per cent more service. We need to reject this proposal by encouraging students to vote ‘no.’”
The members of the committee also believe the U-Pass increase is specifically unfair to students because the regular cost of transit is not growing by the same amount.
“The general public got a two and a half per cent increase, [while] students got 10 times more of an increase for the U-Pass,” said Chris Spoke, member of the committee. “We can’t really complain if everyone has to pay more, but this certainly does single out students.”
Fleet said in addition to the high price, the positive environmental impact of the U-Pass has been minimal, according to a survey conducted by the City of Ottawa.
“What [the survey] found was there was virtually no change in the number of drivers who drive to campus but there was a reduction in walking and cycling and increase in transit users,” said Fleet.
“Many of the gains to adopting transit came from people who were already making green, smart, and sustainable choices when getting to campus. For that reason, because it does not divert car drivers into public transit, we worry that the environmental benefits at this price weren’t attractive enough to get people out of their cars and on to the bus.”
—Christopher Radojewski
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One only hopes this time students will get off their asses and actually vote. The only reason the YES side won last time was because there was no NO compaign and because turnout was incredibly low — no one knew about it and the YES campaign kept it quiet. This time students shouldn’t be deceived.
I understand some of the points that the “no” committee is making, but one thing I still don’t get: isn’t the u-pass still significantly cheaper than buying a regular monthly pass from OC transpo? I realize that some people aren’t bus riders and that, no matter what, it’s a waste of money for them. But for people who DO use the bus and who WOULD be buying a bus pass anyways, what’s the issue? As far as I’m concerned, even with the increase the u-pass program is still affordable considering the discount we’re getting (again, assuming students would be buying a bus pass despite having the program).
The thing that bothers me the most about this whole issue is the fact that if people vote NO to the price increase then the program will be scrapped completely; voting NO doesn’t mean that the cost of the uPass will just remain the same. I don’t think that’s being made clear to students. This “No committee” isn’t providing any sort of solution… yes, it may save those students who don’t regularly use their uPass a small sum of money but for other students, like myself, who rely on the uPass to get to school every day, it’s creating an even greater problem. OC transpo no longer offers semester bus passes (which still used to be about double the price of the uPass) and without the uPass program in place we’re going to be spending nearly FOUR TIMES as much on transit by having to purchase monthly passes, simply because they are proposing a $35 price increase. The information that is being provided to the student population is very selective, and I think students should be aware of this fact before they blindly vote on an issue that they don’t fully understand. They say to “send this unfairly priced uPass back to city hall” but nowhere does it say that they are actively trying to work out a better deal for students… I think that’s the first step that should have been taken, but instead the program will likely be scrapped after the vote and many of us will then be stuck with the financial burden of having to pay full price for a bus pass.
I agree with the above 2 posters. I hope my fellow students are aware that if No gets the majority, we will lose the uPass program altogether and be forced to pay more than double the current cost of the uPass.
I’ll take the $35 hike any day of the week. We’re no more special than every other OCtranspo rider, and I’m happy we even have the program in the first place.
Don’t take the price hike! Make a stance! Don’t be the City/OC Transpo’s bitch! Make the City reprice the UPASS, the proposed price is ludicrous!
The referendum was poorly explained to people – at least in my opinion. To complain about the U-Pass beeing too expensive, that is an outrageous complaint. It’s such a steal, even with a 2.5% increase every year. Go to any other school, such as University of Toronto and you dont even get a pass or even a discount on transport.
what was the result of the 2012 vote?????? Did yes or no win?