OC Transpo will offer rural students the choice to opt out of the U-Pass if the program continues next year, according to their website.
Carleton and University of Ottawa students living in rural communities will be eligible to opt out of the U-Pass program next year, which will cost $180 per semester.
These communities include Almonte, Carleton Place, Dunrobin, Carp, Osgoode, Russell, Metcalfe, Embrun and Rockland, according to OC Transpo’s website.
Julienne Forrester, a second-year student at Carleton who lives in Rockland, said she’s happy about this change.
“I think that the opt-out option is a good idea because for someone like me, I have to pay for another bus to get to Orleans because they don’t recognize the U-Pass,” she said.
University of Ottawa students voted in favour of continuing the program Feb. 14-16.
However, if Carleton students vote against keeping the U-Pass, the program will not continue at either university.
Chantle Beeso, vice-president (student issues) for the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), said the rural opt-out option will have a “positive result” on the actual voters who come out for the referendum.
“In previous years, when there was a referendum question, it wasn’t just students who were against the U-Pass who voted ‘No’ . . . because a lot of the time, it was rural students who had no use for a universal bus pass that would vote ‘No,’” Beeso said.
“If [rural students] have something that is directing them and addressing their issue, and that gives them an option to opt out . . . it could actually turn the ‘No’ votes to the ‘Yes’ votes.”
The next CUSA council meeting is March 9, and from there they will approve the referendum, Beeso said.
After the referendum goes through council, CUSA’s chief electoral officer will decide on a date to hold the actual referendum.
