School Bus Passes And The Debate Behind Them    by Justin Bouchard

in Education / College and University    (submitted 2011-04-03)

A week ago I had written about how much money it was plausible to save if you take public transportation. Since then, I have became aware that there are a many assorted selections for student bus passes across the country. The example I used of the pass in Winnipeg turned out to be around average, so that's good as far as the comparison proceeded to go; however, soon after checking out the many options across Canada I thought it may be useful to note the differences.

Probably the most controversial part of student bus passes in Canada is the possibility of a majority of students on some campuses to make the passes mandatory. Universities which includes the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, Saint Mary's University, and the University of Western Ontario have organised student referendums where students elected to incorporate bus passes as part of their overall tuition and student user fees. At Ottawa this led to a law suit by nine students against the University since they felt discriminated against.

Obviously this predicament has some advantages and disadvantages. The really low cost of public transportation for those that use it is an indisputable bonus. For those campuses the cost was decreased to around a 100 dollars flat for the year! This is probably because of the inflated volume of sales. The fact that students are compelled to get passes would definitely also assist the overall usage rates. This has wonderful spin-off environmental effects, as well as the mentioned financial ones.

For me personally, the negative aspects are way more prevalent to me. During my time at the University of Manitoba there was a referendum on whether to put together a required bundle for public transportation to be supported by all students. I simply just can't get past the fact that it should not be considered fair for a negligible majority of students to trample the rights of a giant minority and take money out of their pockets to subsidize their chosen mode of transportation. If I remember correctly, there was currently a percentage of the money used from parking fees to help counteract student bus pass costs. This is still a tough sell for me regardless of the environmental benefits. Not surprisingly as a vehicle owner I am definitely bias.

My personal distaste for particular aspects of public transportation is most likely a result of the Winnipeg pubic transit system. It doesn't matter how much money I was saving I couldn't rationalize the steady waste of time. The schedules were never ever correct, the constant rudeness of travellers, and the horrible weather aspect of life in Winnipeg, was more than enough to motivate me to get my own car.

However, if I had attended school in British Columbia I might have a very different perspective of student bus passes. After a comment from a local concerning her public transportation experience, I reviewed the Vancouver area possible choices. I was impressed by the fantastic deal they got and the fact it was not subsidized by other students (this means it doesn't penalize the students that walk, bike, or drive to school). The U-Pass (universal pass) is available to post-secondary students for the low price of $30 a month. The great part of the deal is that this doesn't only just cover the bus, but the Seabus and SkyTrain services as well! With such a extensive variety of options I would presume there is quite a bit of success with the program there.

In contrast, Winnipeg charges over $70 per month for its poor patchwork of buses. Other monthly public transportation rates for students consist of $89 for a metro pass in Toronto, $41 in Montreal for a merged metro and bus pass, $71 for a student bus pass in Saskatoon, and Calgary didn't even have a student rate from the information I was able to see on their web page. The standard adult rate there for a regular bus pass is $90.

One more thing for people (not just students) who use bus passes should be advised of is the non-refundable tax credit available. For the majority of people you can find a pretty good idea of how much money you should receive on your taxes by multiplying the annual fee of your bus passes by .15 (15%). This is a wonderful little bonus incentive for those of you who are already financially and environmentally sensitive enough to use public transportation.

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