U-Pass brings transit access to thousands

By Richard Cairney

U of A Students' Union President Samantha Power, SU vice president (student life) Omer Yusuf and Graduate Students' Association President Christine Delling show off a U of A OneCard with the U-Pass sticker.

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April 27, 2007 - Edmonton - A new Universal Bus Pass was officially launched today, providing full transit access to about 46,000 post-secondary students from Edmonton, St. Albert and Strathcona County this fall.

The U-Pass was approved by students and administration at the University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan College, and the Edmonton, St. Albert and Strathcona municipal councils.

In February of 2007, U of A students voted overwhelmingly in favour of a $75 per term increase in student fees to provide transit access for most full-time students during the school year. The price of the passes is lower than current rates because of a greater number of students purchasing the U-Pass. The U of A has about 36,000 students; approximately 10,000 attend Grant MacEwan College.

The establishment of the U-Pass, said outgoing U of A Students' Union President Samantha Power, "is an example of what student councils can do." U of A students, she added, supported the initiative not only because it made transit access more affordable, but also because "they're eager to reduce their dependence on cars and do their part to protect the environment."

Calling the U-Pass "a landmark collaboration", U of A Graduate Students' Association President Christine Delling said the U-Pass "will put us on par with other university cities in Canada" and could help attract more graduate students to the campus. U-Pass programs have successfully been established in Victoria, Vancouver and Calgary.

Don Hickey, the U of A's vice president (facilities) said the U-Pass is one of many initiatives the university is working on to reduce traffic to and from campus, and to help protect the environment.

The university's Transportation Demand Management Plan estimates an immediate decrease in the number of students travelling to campus by car with the new, expanded transit access the U-Pass provides.

The impact of the U-Pass, and other initiatives the university is working towards, will make a difference. As the university continues to grow, it should promote alternate modes of transportation to and from its north campus, he said.

The city's LRT line to the U of A's South Campus is expected to open in late 2008. The opening of that transit station should help reduce car and bus traffic on the north campus, Hickey added.

"We don't believe that our parking lot demands are going to increase at all over the next 15 years," he said. "This is a huge win for our students, the two institutions, the city and the environment in general."

Hickey also congratulated the students for championing the issue.

"Your efforts are going to be felt for a long time to come."

Related Internal Links

The U of A Travel Demand Management website:
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/pi/TravelDemandManagement.cfm

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Reader Responses to this Article

I'm absolutely appalled that the U-Pass was passed. I voted against it. I'm interested to know how many U of A students actually voted...what were the statistics? If the majority of students didn't vote in the recent elections, then the SU has failed because there is a chance that the students did NOT vote "overwhelmingly in favour" of the U-Pass. I live in the south in a new suburb where buses do not run regularly, making it almost impossible to use public transport to get to school. I have to pay for my gas and a parking pass every month. Is anyone going to subsidize that for me? I'm a "poor" student too and will be receiving no benefits by sposoring my fellow "poor" students the $90 per term so that they can use cheap public transport. So, until the Students' Union sponsors me $90 per term towards my parking pass, I will be withholding that money from my tuition fees. This is totally ludicrous.

by Deborah Van Dyke
Apr 30, 2007