Algonquin College’s student union is planning to file a human rights complaint against the city of Ottawa if negotiations over the student bus pass age cap fall through.
Students over the age of 19 at Algonquin have been required to pay for an adult pass since July after OC Transpo applied an age cap to student bus passes.
The change has meant a price increase of up to $28.75 per month for students over 19.
The president of the Algonquin Students’ Association (ASA) said he believes this is discriminatory.
“It’s age discrimination,” ASA president David Corson said.
According to Corson, ASA is preparing to file a human rights complaint through the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.
“The letter will be addressed to the mayor,” Corson said. “And when we file provincially, it will be versus the City of Ottawa.”
The human rights complaint, if filed, has no guarantee of being found valid by the tribunal.
“We see it about 50-50,” Corson said, speaking of the complaint’s chance of success.
The complaint is just one option to resolve the issue, Corson said and negotiation will be tried first. OC Transpo and ASA have not reached any agreement in the four months since the age cap was initiated.
OC Transpo has initiated the age cap because of the new Presto system, according to a previous interview with David Pepper, manager of the business and operational services branch at OC Transpo. The Presto system would be a new method of fare payment for OC Transpo, where a transit rider would use a reloadable plastic card to pay.
However, the Presto card system was delayed, and won’t take effect until Feb. 1, 2013, according to the OC Transpo website. Meanwhile, OC Transpo has still maintained the student pass age cap, which affects Algonquin students.
“When I turn 20 I’ll need to spend an extra 30 bucks every month on a bus pass,” said Justin Villanueva, a 19-year-old aviation student at Algonquin.
“As a student in my program right now, on top of tuition I’m paying flying costs, and rent and food, and it’s just a lot of money.”
Corson said OC Transpo is “very determined that they will not reopen the pass issue.”
OC Transpo reinstated other discounts after Presto was delayed, such as the eco pass, but wouldn’t lift the age cap, according to Corson.
One possible alternative would be a U-Pass for Algonquin students, but Corson said that could take up to two years to work out.
“We don’t know what our contract will be. What we’re told by the city is that it would be the type of bus, the frequency of the bus […] it’s an extensive document from what they told us,” he said.
“Which is why we keep pushing the human rights issue, because we believe that might be the fastest solution.”
If that’s so, Algonquin students could be in for a long wait. It could take six months for the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to process the claim, possibly much longer, according to Corson.
“There is an advantage to negotiating,” he said. “It could mean a much earlier decision.”
But there may be little time left to negotiate.
“We hope to have the [complaint] letter out […] very very soon,” Corson said.
OC Transpo could not be reached for comment.
