Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

The discounted pass is an initiative from the government, TransLink, students and their schools, to help encourage 140,000 students to use public transit.

A former student has been charged with two counts of fraud for allegedly buying the passes from students and selling them for a profit on Craigslist. Charges could also be pressed against the students who sold their passes, police say.

The university and Metro Transit, which will operate the service, currently have a U-Pass program in place, with the agency also offering free rides for students on its Hiawatha Line to the airport.

Despite appeals and a presentation from University of Ottawa students, the OC Transpo Transit Commission refused to change the $35-per-semester fee increase to its U-pass. Students dispute the transit system’s calculations, which set the new revenue-neutral price.

Although university officials said they have not heard anything about a raise in fares yet, they are fearful that a raise in cost would result in fewer student purchases as it has in the past. The student U-Pass, which allows unlimited access to the light rail and Valley Metro's bus service, saw an increase from $80 to $150 for the 2011-2012 academic year.

As the result of an effort made to secure the future of the struggling transit pass program, students must now pay the $76 quarterly U-Pass fee instead of choosing to forfeit their pass and have the fee refunded later.

The past two years of the pilot have seen support from the students at both universities, but an agreement to satisfy all students has proven to be just out of reach.

CABS is just one way OSU is promoting a switch to a more environmentally-friendly, multimodal approach to transit to help reduce fuel consumption, carbon emissions and traffic congestion on campus.

Beginning in September, a universal bus pass will be mandatory for all full-time Royal Roads University students. A recent Students’ Society referendum vote on buying into the pass received support from 83 percent of students.