Universal bus pass: a thing of the past?

Almost as soon as the City of Guelph presented their proposed budget for 2010 in a council meeting on Monday, Nov. 30, students and members of the University of Guelph community began to assemble. The proposed budget includes a line item, CFM-11, stating “reset student transit rate structure,” what some argue is an ambiguously worded proposal that outlines the end to the Universal bus pass given to all University of Guelph students. The councilors will not vote on these proposed cuts until Dec. 15 at which time, should the transit proposal be voted in by council, it is up to their discretion what the next step will be.

The universal bus pass has been the system in which University of Guelph students have accessed public transit since 1994. Since its inception, the system has functioned in a way where every student pays a predetermined amount each semester in their student fees, currently $60, of which no one is exempt. In this current scheme, all students are then able to use the city’s transit system.

The proposal put before council to explore an end to this system comes during a time when the city of Guelph is running an $8 million deficit due to fiscal difficulties associated with the recession. Guelph city officials have been forced to make cuts that total $14.4 million; many of these cuts are coming at the expense of community services and in the form of increased property taxes.

According to Ann Pappert, director of community services for the city of Guelph and the official responsible for suggesting that the city review the university student transit pass, this potential change to transit operations was drafted before the budget issues were on the horizon, and created in the spirit of equality for all learners in the city of Guelph. The only non-universal student transit pass that Guelph Transit offers is for high school students exclusively. The high school pass is  $62 per month.

“We would like to introduce an option of creating a student fare for anybody in a full-time learning stream because we think people who are learning full time should be supported in taking Guelph Transit,” said Pappert. “We don’t have any special rate for children taking the bus to grade school and we don’t have a special rate for anybody going to community college or any other full-time learning stream except this one at $62 a month. We feel that we need to look at that.”

Pappert explained that she has been surprised by the concern expressed by university students about the prospect of changes to transit prices.

“Folks are jumping quite quickly to thinking that we’re talking about getting rid of it, when in fact, we’re talking about whether there’s another way to do this together,” said Pappert.

Galen Fick, the Central Student Association (CSA) local affairs commissioner, has been working closely with the city on transit issues and explained that it is difficult to see the situation as anything other than one that doesn’t include the universal university transit pass. Fick explained that if the idea is explored more concretely by the city, it is likely that university students will have to buy a much more costly transit passes each month from a transit retail location. The buss pass would not be given out through the CSA, as it currently is.

“By definition, paying the same amount for a monthly pass [as other learners] would eliminate the universal pass,” said Fick. “From my conversation with [the city], it was clear that they were talking about proposing one student monthly pass at the same price. So that would eliminate the universal buy-in, it would eliminate how cheaply we get it. A big part of why we get it so cheaply is because it’s like a social service; all students buy into it.”

Brenda Whiteside, vice-president, student affairs at the University of Guelph, explained that she is taking on the role of advisor and advocate for students with respect to this issue, and sees the suggested change as a lack of comprehension on the part of those exploring it.

“My take is that people don’t fully understand what it means to be a universal bus pass…I think we have a lot of new people in the city and they just don’t understand,” said Whiteside.

Mayor Karen Farbridge disagrees. Farbridge said that the idea was not born out of a lack of understanding, but rather out of a desire to be responsible to other full-time learners in the community.

“I’m well aware, and I keep being reminded, that a universal pass is a universal pass,” said Farbridge. “We need to address the issue that a high school student or a college student is paying over $60 a month and a university student is paying $15 a month.”

In her conversations with the city, Whiteside said that the general prediction has been that, should the universal transit pass be eliminated, and prices for university students rise, only a 25 per cent drop in current riders would result; an increase in high school student riders would then compensate for that loss.

But in his conversations with U of G students, Fick has received a different picture of the potential future for university transit users. He explained that the general sentiment has been that university students would avoid buying the more expensive transit pass, many of them deciding to bike, walk, or drive a car and others only intending to purchase monthly passes for January and February when the weather is an issue.

“There’s a big portion of people that use it because we have it,” said Fick. “I live a 30-minute walk from campus. I really like having the bus [pass]. I’m kind of lazy and I ride it all the time. But if they’re (Guelph Transit) comparing ridership [statistics] now with what it would be if we didn’t have the universal pass, I would ride the bus very rarely.”

Fick also explained many adverse effects that the proposal could have on the community of Guelph as a whole.

“They’re looking at the issue one-sided because there’s a whole range of impacts that this would have. Some of them we couldn’t even estimate now,” said Fick. “The rental rates would really fluctuate in the city. In the south end, which is a lot further away (from campus) but (where) a lot of students live, there are really convenient bus routes. If you have to account in your monthly budget that you’re going to be paying for a monthly pass, then it makes sense to live within campus.”

This shift, according to Fick, could result in much higher rent rates close to campus and a great decrease in rent for places further away. He also explained that it could affect the viability of businesses that cater to students but that are not within walking distance of campus.

Guelph Chief of Police, Rob Davis, explained the negative impacts of an elimination of the universal bus pass in an e-mail that he sent to all members of Guelph city council on Monday Dec. 7, specifically relating to downtown night life.

“It could mean fewer students using the buses to get downtown and getting home again after a night out downtown because of the increased costs. More of them may revert to driving their cars downtown and home again after a night out drinking which is counter-productive to all of the attempts to keep them from (getting) behind the wheel,” said Davis. “Those that don’t take their own cars will now be walking back up the hill to the U. of G. increasing…the likelihood of more noise, damage, etc.”

Whiteside, who also views the potential loss of the universal bus pass as an issue that could effect the recruitment of prospective students, explained that she intends to be persistent in maintaining a universal pass for U of G students.

“If they take it away then my approach would be to every year, advocate to bring it back. You know, get a new person in council and advocate to bring it back,” said Whiteside. “We will always want to promote the universal bus pass, not just for [recruitment] purposes…it makes it more assessable for people who need it, it allows people to live anywhere in the city, it’s environmentally friendly, it keeps people out of our parking lots. There are a zillion reasons why it is such a good plan.”

According to Fick, those at the university are not unwilling to explore an increase in the price of the universal pass, which works out to cost the students approximately $15 per month.

“We’re willing to negotiate and sit down and see if we can come up with a new proposal and put it to referendum,” said Fick. “This seems like it was made in haste, it’s not fully formulated…if it’s a budget thing they should talk about how to get the money. If it’s a political thing about equality between university and high school students, then that debate should happen outside of the budget process.”

Leanne Piper, a councilor for the city of Guelph in Ward 5, echoed Fick’s sentiments and explained that the discussion of fairly priced transit for all learners has great merit but does not belong in a budget discussion.

“We are [being asked to make] a policy decision during a budget process, but the two have to be separated out,” stressed Piper. “The budget process is not the time to be making major policy shifts. We don’t have the appropriate public consultation process, we don’t have the time to have a wholesome debate on the issue, and we don’t have the information to be able to make a choice on the implications of our decision.”

Piper pointed to the city of Guelph’s impressive transit ridership rate as part of a transit growth strategy, and stressed that while it is important to open affordable transit to other full time learners, it shouldn’t be at the expense of university student ridership.

“Our budget challenges are real, but I don’t believe my colleagues are willing to enter into a process that doesn’t meet our larger strategic goals,” said Piper. “And one of our strategic goals is public transit ridership statistics – we want to have the highest per capita ridership in Canada. Why would we put that at risk?”

University of Guelph leaders from the CSA, GSA, and the administration presented their arguments against the elimination of the universal transit pass on Tuesday, Dec. 8 in a debate-free council meeting. This presentation was one discussion in a group of nearly one hundred other proposed budget cuts being reviewed by city council.

In his address to city council as a representative from the CSA, Fick highlighted what has been the most pressing argument against this budget proposal.

“[It’s a] new idea that has not been fully formulated,” said Fick. “It has come before council with incomplete information based on untested assumptions and carrying with it numerous unanswered questions. Though there is a dollar amount attached to this proposal, it is in reality, a policy decision that marks a departure from the sound financially minded, community driven nature of this green council.”

While she has yet to vote on these transit issues, Piper explained that eliminating the universal bus pass may simply be too much of a risk.

“Guelph has always been a leader in thinking outside the box,” said Piper. “The universal bus pass system is one of those ideas and we have significantly higher ridership statistics in our municipality than in a comparable municipality without a university. Why would we jeopardize that?”

City councilors continue to welcome opinions and input on this issue leading up to the vote on the proposed budget cuts on Dec. 15.