Last week I had written about how much money it was possible to save through public transportation. After that, I have became aware that there are a a number of different 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 fine as far as the comparison went; however, shortly after checking out the different options around Canada I thought it could be useful to make note of the differences.
Possibly the most controversial aspect of student bus passes in Canada is the ability of a majority of students on several campuses to make the passes mandatory. Universities such as the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, Saint Mary’s University, and the University of Western Ontario have held student referendums where students elected to add bus passes together with their overall tuition and student user fees. At Ottawa this lead to a law suit by nine students against the University because they felt discriminated against.
Naturally this dilemma has some positives and drawbacks. The extremely low cost of public transportation for those that use it is an undeniable incentive. For those campuses the rate was reduced to approximately a 100 bucks flat for the year! This is likely because of the increasing volume of sales. The fact that students are required to get passes would definitely also improve the overall usage rates. This has excellent spin-off environmental effects, as well as the previously mentioned financial ones.
Myself personally, the downsides are much 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’t get past the fact that it shouldn’t be considered fair for a negligible majority of students to trample the legal rights of a huge minority and take money out of their wallets to subsidize their chosen form of transportation. If I remember correctly, there was presently 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. Needless to say as a vehicle owner I am definitely bias.
My own distaste for specific aspects of public transportation is very likely a result of the Winnipeg pubic transit system. It doesn’t matter how much money I was saving I couldn’t justify the constant waste of time. The schedules were hardly ever correct, the constant disrespect of travellers, and the awful weather aspect of life in Winnipeg, was enough to encourage me to get my own car.
In the instance that I had went to school in British Columbia I might have a very different view of student bus passes. After a comment from a local pertaining to her public transportation experience, I reviewed the Vancouver area possible choices. I was blown away by the excellent deal they got and the fact it was not subsidized by other students (this means it doesn’t punish the students that walk, bike, or drive to school). The U-Pass (universal pass) is readily availablefor sale to post-secondary students for the low price of $30 per month. The really great part of the deal is that this doesn’t solely cover the bus, but the Seabus and SkyTrain services as well! With such a extensive variety of options I would assume there is a great deal of success with the program presently there.
In contrast, Winnipeg charges over $70 a month for its poor patchwork of buses. Other monthly public transportation rates for students include $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 price from the information I was able to see on their website. The standard adult rate there for a month-to-month bus pass is $90.
One other thing for people (not just students) who use bus passes should be advised of is the non-refundable tax credit available. For some people you can get 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 good little reward incentive for people who are already financially and environmentally mindful enough to use public transportation.
Getting a Student Bus Pass is a superb strategy for saving money when going to university. Student public transportation is important to any university trying to give you a subsidised service to their students.
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