The School Bus Pass – The Reasons Why There Are Lots Of Arguments Because Of Them
A while back I had written about how much money it was plausible to save by taking public transportation. After that, I have became aware that there are a many different possibilities for student bus passes throughout the country. The example I used of the pass in Winnipeg turned out to be roughly average, so that\’s good as far as the comparison went; however, soon after looking at the many options around Canada I thought it could be useful to make note of the differences.
Perhaps the most controversial part of student bus passes in Canada is the power of a majority of university students on some campuses to make the passes mandatory. Universities just like the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, Saint Mary\’s University, and the University of Western Ontario have organised student referendums where students decided to include bus passes as part of their over-all tuition and student user fees. At Ottawa this lead to a law suit by 9 students against the University because they felt discriminated against.
Naturally this scenario has some positives and drawbacks. The super low cost of public transportation for those who use it is an indisputable bonus. For those campuses the rate was reduced to about a 100 bucks flat for the year! This is in all likelihood because of the boosted volume of sales. The fact that students are compelled to get passes would definitely also benefit the overall usage rates. This has great spin-off environmental effects, along with the mentioned financial ones.
Personally, the disadvantages are way more prevalent to me. During my time at the University of Manitoba we had a referendum on whether to put together a compulsory bundle for public transportation to be supported by all students. I quite frankly can not get past the fact that it shouldn\’t be considered fair for a minor majority of students to trample the rights of a giant minority and take money out of their wallets to subsidize their chosen form of transportation. If I remember correctly, there was already a percentage of the money used from parking service fees to help counteract student bus pass costs. This is still a hard sell for me regardless of the environmental benefits. Naturally as a car owner I am definitely bias.
My personal distaste for particular aspects of public transportation is probably a result of the Winnipeg pubic transit system. Regardless of how much money I was saving I couldn\’t justify the steady waste of time. The schedules were never correct, the constant disrespect of travellers, and the lousy weather aspect of life in Winnipeg, was enough to motivate me to get my own car.
If I had went to school in British Columbia I may have a very different view of student bus passes. After a opinion from a local pertaining to her public transportation experience, I looked into the Vancouver area possible choices. I was blown away by the excellent bargain 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 complete variety of options I would suppose there is quite a bit of success with the program presently there.
In comparison, Winnipeg charges over $70 each month for its shoddy patchwork of buses. Other monthly public transportation rates for students consist of $89 for a metro pass in Toronto, $41 in Montreal for a combined metro and bus pass, $71 for a student bus pass in Saskatoon, and Calgary didn\’t even have a student price from the information I have been able to see on their site. The general adult rate there for a monthly bus pass is $90.
One other thing people (not just students) who use bus passes should be informed of is the non-refundable tax credit available. For some people you may get a pretty good idea of how much money you should get back on your taxes by multiplying the annual fee of your bus passes by .15 (15%). This is a nice little bonus incentive for those of you who are already financially and environmentally mindful enough to use public transportation.
Obtaining a cheap student bus pass is a popular way to save money when going to school. cheap student transportation is very crutial to any university aiming to make a subsidised service to their students.
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