Working with students to develop a program that meets their needs, the TTC has proposed a $60-per-month “U-Pass,” now under consideration by students at UTSC, and potentially on campuses across the city in coming months. Whether or not to participate would be up to students in a referendum.
With a U-Pass, students will simply not have to worry about transportation for the entire academic year they’re in school. It means never having to calculate whether or not you can afford to visit friends and family, shop for groceries, see a movie or play, travel to work or classes, or access the entire city in any way.
For students who ride transit, the U-Pass represents a savings of between $288 and more than $368 over the course of the academic year, depending on how they usually pay—and it means no more monthly lineups for transit passes.
As with any student levy, the pass would be added to students’ tuition. The levy—at $240 per semester, or $480 for the academic year—is certainly not a small amount of money, but it’s a big savings for students who use transit even 15 times a month, after the tax credit for which it’s eligible. At that level, even students who don’t currently buy passes, such as pedestrians, cyclists and rainy-day riders, benefit.
As in other cities, the beauty of the program is that it leverages students’ collective buying power to achieve a better pass price. As a further incentive last fall, when other fares were increased, the TTC froze the price of the U-Pass offer for schools that opt in this year. The result is a program that will cost the TTC money, but will aid it and the City of Toronto, to achieve their policy objective of increasing ridership. It is not a TTC money-maker because the increases in ridership are more than offset by the reduced price, as well as the cost of increased service for more riders, part of the proposal. That’s precisely how the program is designed to work.
The lower price is achieved by making the pass universal and mandatory for all full-time undergraduate students, with no opt-outs. Allowing opt-outs would reduce the discount basically to the level of the current VIP program, which is $96 at U of T.
The U-Pass proposal is a result of many years of advocacy on the part of students, who have repeatedly requested a U-Pass program like those currently in place in cities across Canada. In response to student requests, the TTC has successfully negotiated with GO and York Region Transit to include an option for passes on their systems for those students who don’t use the TTC. It has also added access to TTC commuter parking lots.
For U of T students, staff and faculty not covered by the U-Pass program, the TTC will continue to offer the current VIP discount transit pass.
Although the program will actually cost the TTC, the benefits of increased transit use for the City of Toronto and its residents are clear: clean air, less congestion and greater mobility. Everyone benefits from greater transit use in one way or another.
Whether or not to participate and take the TTC up on its offer is up to students. We certainly hope they will vote Yes.
Adam Giambrone is the Toronto City Councillor for Ward 18—Davenport and the Chair of the TTC
