Conestoga College students say no to mandatory bus pass fee
Region now has $1.5 million surplus over next two years that was to be used for UPass, upgrading service
Students at Conestoga College have voted against adding the cost of a universal bus pass to their tuition, which means the Region of Waterloo has an extra $1.5 million over the next two years in its budget.
The UPass would have added an extra $245 annually to student fees and would have been mandatory. Currently, students pay $227 per semester.
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The region passed a budget that allocated $1.5 million over two years to offer a discounted bus pass to students and also improve service to the college.
Jeff Scherer, president of Conestoga College's student association, said 3,700 students voted in the referendum, which represents about 31 per cent of the student population. That kind of turnout is unheard of at the school, he said.
When the ballots were counted, 59 per cent of the students had voted no to the UPass.
Scherer, who has worked on getting a discounted bus pass for college students for more than a year, said the UPass was a much talked about issue on campus.
"When you have 31 per cent of your students come out and be engaged in a conversation like this and be engaged in this kind of process and then having the vote going the opposite away, I don't think you can be upset or disappointed by the outcomes, he said.
"I think if anything, we're more impressed and more grateful of the student engagement and the student outcome we had from the referendum."
Region allocated $1.5 million
Regional councillor and budget chair Sean Strickland said he was surprised and disappointed to hear the results of the referendum.
"I thought that the additional cost on their student fees would be well worth it in terms of complete access to our transit system. We were also planning to increase and improve service to Conestoga College," he said. "We're going to have to take some time and assess what we're going to do with that variance in our budget."
Strickland said council has a number of options to consider. They could still work towards improving service to the college, the money could be used to decrease the borrowing costs for new buses, they could enhance other routes that are needed or it could just be a savings in the budget and held onto for next year.
"We have $1.5 million in our budget between this year and next year, we'll have to decide what to do with it," he said.
Better transit needed
Scherer said it's not clear why the students turned down the UPass, but it could be because a large portion of the student body still drive to the campus, which is located at Hwy. 401 and Homer Watson Boulevard.
He said despite the vote, the Conestoga Students group will continue to advocate for better transit service to the college.