Carleton University will be distributing a $54.51 rebate to U-Pass holders starting Nov. 29 after the City of Ottawa announced a month of no-charge transit service this December.
The city’s announcement addresses the disruption of the LRT public transit service in recent months.
According to OC Transpo’s website, universities and other U-Pass partner institutions will be credited this December. It is their responsibility to decide whether to give a rebate to student U-Pass holders.
Carleton recently announced that eligible students will receive a rebate. According to its website, students will not have to tap their U-Pass to ride the O-Train or OC Transpo buses in December.
Ottawa’s Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard said he is pleased with the university’s decision to refund students.
“I was concerned when I saw the message from our city senior administration that [the refund] was going back to universities and then there were no other details there,” Coun. Menard said. “I wanted to make sure there was a full refund.”
Second-year commerce student Theresa Kelly said that while the refund is helpful, the problems within OC Transpo run deeper and more serious action should be taken.
“OC Transpo has been pretty unreliable the past few months,” Kelly said. “It’s just been kind of a nightmare to deal with.”
The Ontario government called a public inquiry into the recent O-Train shutdown after the Sept. 19 derailment.
When asked if she thought the refund was an appropriate response to the shutdown, Kelly said it wasn’t enough.
“The LRT is a mess. And it’s kind of sad that provincial inquiry is what it took for [OC Transpo] to take this seriously,” Kelly said.
Menard also expressed concerns about the public transit situation in Ottawa, especially regarding a 2.5 per cent fare increase in 2022 and what this means for students.
“I hope that we see a better policy implemented in the future for students and all residents of Ottawa,” Menard said.
Valentina Vera Gonzalez, vice-president (student issues) for the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), said it is important that student U-Pass holders receive this refund. She said CUSA is continually working to improve student experiences with public transit.
“It is great, the fact that [students] are getting treated equally and they’re getting that money back because everyone else in Ottawa is getting OC Transpo free,” she said.
According to Carleton’s website, the rebate will be applied to the accounts of eligible students the week of Nov. 29. Those eligible are U-Pass holders who have not opted out for the fall term. Students will be notified via email.
Featured image by Louis Yoon.
