The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) is pushing back after OC Transpo asked the association and Carleton University to raise the U-Pass fare by five per cent.
The current U-Pass agreement between OC Transpo and post-secondary institutions in Ottawa caps the yearly fare increase at 2.5 per cent.
On Nov. 18, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union said OC Transpo asked its union to breach that agreement with a five per cent fare increase.
OC Transpo asked CUSA to do the same through a letter sent to the association and Carleton University, according to Aiden Kallioinen,* CUSA’s associate vice-president of government affairs.
“It took CUSA by complete surprise,” Kallioinen said. “It blindsided the university.”
University media communications officer Steven Reid did not respond to specific questions about the university’s reaction to the letter.
“We have been notified of the proposed increase in the cost of the U-Pass and are determining next steps,” he wrote in a Nov. 25 email statement to the Charlatan.
In a Dec. 4 email statement to the Charlatan, OC Transpo confirmed it contacted the university and CUSA “to advise them” of the proposed U-Pass fare increase.
“Staff have engaged each post-secondary institution to discuss how this variation from the agreement would be documented and agreed upon,” wrote Pat Scrimgeour, OC Transpo’s director of transit customer systems and planning.
“The proposed changes are not confirmed to take effect until city council votes on the draft budget on Dec. 11,” he added.
Carleton students currently pay approximately $229 per semester for their U-Pass. The proposed five per cent fare increase would raise this price by $11.45 to approximately $240 per term.
The city and OC Transpo need the support of CUSA and the university to implement this increase for Carleton students.
CUSA will not support a five per cent increase, Kallioinen said.
“We think that’s just completely unreasonable to expect students to pay into a service that we’ve seen over the past few years has deteriorated,” he said.
However, Kallioinen said the final decision is ultimately up to the university.
Carleton University did not confirm whether it has the final say on U-Pass agreement decisions following a request for comment from the Charlatan. It also did not respond to questions asking if the university would fight the proposed fare increase.
On Nov. 21, city councillors Shawn Menard, Laine Johnson and Stéphanie Plante released a statement saying a fare increase would “place an unjust and detrimental burden on the students.”
“As the administration and student associations of the affected institutions, you are within your rights to hold the city to the agreed-upon 2.5 per cent increase, at most, and we will fully support your decision to do so,” the statement reads.
The fare increase is a proposed measure to address OC Transpo’s $120-million funding shortfall.
Students in Ottawa pay a collective $38 million into OC Transpo through the U-Pass program every year, according to a CUSA statement. Nearly $12 million of that total comes from Carleton students.
Kallioinen said a fare increase would hurt both students and OC Transpo’s goal of increasing ridership.
“I understand there are financial challenges but [OC Transpo is] putting this on the backs of the wrong people,” Kallioinen said.
He warned that a fare increase could deter current students from taking public transit, and could also deter prospective students from choosing Ottawa post-secondary institutions.
“For a lot of students, this feels like just another nail in the coffin for a transit system that isn’t for them,” Kallioinen said.
An open letter signed by Ottawa student governments and community organizations also urged the city to reconsider the potential fare increase and “firmly commit” to consulting student unions and Ottawa students in the future when “decisions of this magnitude are made.”
“The goal of growing and maintaining ridership in the City’s transit system cannot be accomplished without students,” the statement reads. “To begin to address shortfalls, more actions need to be taken to increase student ridership, not deter them.”
On Nov. 21, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union said it would reconsider its participation in the U-Pass agreement if the proposed fare increase is forced through.
For CUSA, leaving the U-Pass agreement is “not a consideration at this time,” Kallioinen said.
“Despite what they’re tabling here, it still is very much a much more affordable way of getting transit in Ottawa compared to a regular fare,” he added.
City council’s final decision on the proposed fare increase will come when it votes on the city budget on Dec. 11.
*Aiden Kallioinen has previously contributed to the Charlatan.
Featured image by Trevor Swann.
