March 18th, 2008
Scarborough Students Vote: Do U U-Pass?
By Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler // 17 Comments
Starting tomorrow, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus students will put conventional wisdom to the test as they go to the polls to say Yes or No to a U-Pass.
Until January, UTSC was only less likely than Humber College and Centennial College to get in on a U-Pass. At the time, Scarborough Campus Students' Union president Rob Wulkan was still thought to be cool to the concept and, while good for UTSC students, the economics of a U-Pass weren't nearly as enticing to Scarborough as they were (and are) for the downtown schools. Yet it is UTSC that now has Toronto on the brink of the new deal for transit that so many students have asked for and worked towards.
Since I've already made the case for a U-Pass, I'm going to skip the pros and cons list and tell you why I think the referendum is likely to pass when all the votes are tallied on Thursday night (all data from TTC market research):
- -On principle, 72% of UTSC students support the concept of a U-Pass.
- -The average UTSC student takes nine trips per week on the TTC and spends more than $75 on TTC per month.
- -The average student at UTSC believes they would use their U-Pass for more than 15 trips per week ($126.75 value based on the average fare paid by UTSC students per trip).
- -Students polled at UTSC, on average, said that they would support a U-Pass priced at $57.58.
- -Sixty-two per cent of UTSC students rely on public transit as their primary mode of transit to school.
- -Eighty-one per cent of UTSC students live 2KM or more from campus, with 58% more than 5KM from the school and only 10% 1KM or less away.
The wild card in all of this is which voters turn out. Campus referendums tend to have appallingly low voter participation (UTSC has a 5% quorum requirement) and, as conventional wisdom in campus politics goes, commuter students vote in significantly lower numbers than their on-campus peers. If that trend continues it could be bad news for the U-Pass. Guess we'll have to see how conventional wisdom holds up on Thursday.
Photograph by Roland.
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I think it's a great idea for students, but I'm not sure if the apparently always financially woeful TTC benefits from this. It seems to me that most UT students are going to be getting a metropass, or pay a close equivalent in fares regardless. Maybe if this is a forced fee for all students, like most schools it will present a better deal...unless that's already the case...
That is the typical rationale behind the U-pass (and I'm pretty sure applicable here too) -- that everyone gets, and pays for, a pass, and that this allows the transit agency to charge a reduced fee for the pass while still coming out ahead.
The difference in Toronto, compared with other schools and transit systems in Ontario that have already implemented U-passes, is the cost. In most other implementations, the cost to students has been much less, maybe you're getting a semester-long pass for the cost of a regular monthly pass. The transit system can do this because the % of students using the passes is lower, and perhaps also there is unused capacity available as well (although McMaster and UWO U-passes have resulted in crowding problems). I think the TTC U-passes work out to be somewhere around $60 to $70 a month (higher % of students using TTC), which is great if you use it, but a pretty big added cost if you don't.
The TTC is not always the answer and lets be honest - it doesn't try to service Scarborough well.
UTSC is a long long way from the nearest subway, LRT, or streetcar. From UTSC is an awful long bus ride on slow buses just to get to the end of the subway (I've tried it). With the 401 right near campus the bus is a hard sell.
Josh, I calculated value based on the number of trips multiplied by the current average fare per ride that a UTSC student currently pays ($1.95 but that is that actually lower than it ought to be because these numbers were run prior to the last fare increase). You're right that few pay more than the VIP rate ($96) but interestingly, a full 8% of all UTSC students don't opt for the current discounted pass through the students' union and instead pay the full $109.
Chris, you can see a more detailed explanation of how the Toronto U-Pass will work by clicking the link in my third paragraph.
As a former UTSC student and avid TTC rider I've watched this issue carefully. At first I thought that UTSC students would be jumping all over this U-Pass given the long line ups for buses I remember. It is definitely a commuter campus with only 10% of students living in residence. And those who do live on campus have a hard time getting anywhere without some form of transportation unlike St. George Campus where you can walk everywhere. I thought this would be a sure thing. But the no campaign has far more momentum then the yes from what I can tell.
What it comes down to really is a win for people who use the TTC regularly, and a loss for those who don't. Just depends on what the balance is in people actually turning up to vote.
They should allow an opt-out, but have the pass cost as much as the current 90/month student plan. This would save current users the long lineups to get the discounted pass every month; allow the TTC to balance their books; and would probably increase ridership a little bit.
This is a tough sell because many UTSC students live in Durham or York regions. A TTC metropass is useless for these students because at most, it would only get them half-way home. And in Durham's case, there are no direct links between any TTC and DRT routes. GO Transit buses run too infrequently to compete with a car, so these students have no reason to support this scheme.
They should allow people living in residence or within 2km of campus to opt out, because they don't need the TTC. I live in residence at the downtown campus of U of T and since there will be no provision for people living on campus to opt out, I am voting against the U-pass because people living on/near campus shouldn't have to pay $60/month for a service they don't need.
Campus referendums tend to have appallingly low voter participation (UTSC has a 5% quorum requirement) and, as conventional wisdom in campus politics goes, commuter students vote in significantly lower numbers than their on-campus peers.
But this is a very unusual referendum.
Most university "money" referenda are for pennies per credit, not hundreds of dollars.
And most university "money" referenda are for schemes from which students can later opt out.
As I understand it, the U-Pass referendum would bind every student permanently. Many dollars. No opt-outs. I have no way of knowing whether UTSC students have been made fully aware of this but, well, you'd hope.
I am seriously against this sort of thing, and I'm not sure why so few other people are.
We're talking about another forced fee on students tuition bill here; that is to say, if this were to go through they're paying another $600 a year or so for Metropasses even if they walk, bike or drive to school.
There's already a perfectly good scheme available to colleges (and presumable UTSC offers it), the VIP discounted metropass. Its not a great discount, but its still less, and it does not force a particular mode of transportation on students.
Ian, yup. There are lots of forced fees on students' tuition. This is the best one I've heard of since I have started university.
I can't wait to start using my U-Pass
Using transit is a great thing. But the cost of this pass is way in excess of other student transit passes in other municipalities. Maybe this is as good a deal as the TTC is able to offer... but that doesn't mean it is a good deal for students, especially for those who've planned their living arrangements so that they don't need to rely on transit.
Students are already paying tuition fees and other related post-secondary fees that are already prohibitive for large segments of our population. For those students who like the TTC's offer, great. But at the price it is being offered, my concern is that if it does become mandatory, it will just end up being another barrier to post-secondary education for a large number of people. $60 a month might not be much to most of the people reading this site. But it's probably a lot of money to students who are already in hock up to their eyeballs.
Frankly, I have a hard time understanding how a referendum is being used to decide whether students will have another $60 a month added to their fees when many are not going to see any benefit from this. I think it borders on the unconscionable since the amount in question is not chicken feed for most students. If the cost for the pass was under $100 a year (as it is in other municipalities) then I think a referendum would be justified. But the TTC's plan costs significantly more than that.
Second update (same Web search):
- the "TTC Market Research" numbers cited above are sourced to the Powerpoint presentation on this page. It was a January 2006 intercept study (nab people, ask them a bunch of question about how they'd predict their behaviour)
- referenda are binding if 5% of eligible voters cast ballots (last bullet under "Voting" subhead)
- 50%+1 takes it (same link)
Kevin: Which other fee amounts to $480?
Unofficial results show just how wrong you are:
Full-Time Student Referendum (U-Pass):
No 1674
yes 622
Abstain 017
Spoiled 053
Part-Time Student Referendum (U-Pass):
No 53
yes 16
Abstain 02
Spoiled 02
Oh, and those numbers are *even with* Adam Giambrone and his volunteers campaigining illegally for the Yes side at the 38 Highland Creek bus stop at STC.
Huh? $126.75 value?
UofT students have access to a ~$90 monthly metropass - nobody is getting more value than that.
Comment by Josh
March 18, 2008 | 9:32 pm