Carleton has made strides to help its students who use public transportation cut costs, but it could do more to help those who want to drive to school cut costs as well.
Full-time Carleton students are required to pay a $192.70 U-Pass fee each semester. Annually, this costs students $385.40.
Carleton offers the U-Pass at a discounted rate: usually, an unlimited monthly OC Transpo pass costs $103.25 for those over the age of 19. Through their tuition, Carleton students pay about half the price of eight months’ worth of monthly bus passes. This is a great deal for students—if they use the bus regularly.
If students can prove they live outside of OC Transpo zones, they can opt out of this fee. Carleton presumably allows this because these students have no choice but to drive to school.
However, if a student lives within OC Transpo’s operating zones, and they wish to drive their car instead of taking the bus, they cannot opt out of the U-Pass.
Students who wish to drive to school should be able to opt out of the U-Pass and opt in to a parking pass instead. It is not fair to force students to pay for services they will not use.
On average, a car costs $10,000 annually to maintain. This includes costs like insurance, upkeep, gas, and parking. Carleton should not force students with the added cost of a car to pay for a U-Pass they won’t use. They may be within OC Transpo’s zones, but that doesn’t mean taking the bus is their best option.
Offering students a parking pass in exchange for opting out of their U-Passes is the least Carleton can do to help student drivers cut costs.
