CUSA vice-president (internal affairs) Cameron McKenzie collected signatures for a petition against the age cap on  student bus fares. The petition garnered more than 2,400 signatures ( Photo: Lasia Kretzel )  

Ottawa city council voted swiftly and unanimously to rescind the age cap on student bus passes at a meeting Sept. 9 following the appeal of delegations, including Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), at an earlier transit committee meeting.

“Let’s reopen [the issue] and spend a very short time debating it and just fix it,” said councillor Rick Chiarelli during debate on the issue.

A petition of more than 2,400 signatures from students was also presented to Mayor Larry O’Brien at the council meeting.

“It sends an awful message to every student across the nation that we discriminate on a basis of our student pass for a very tiny sum of money collectively, but a huge impact on individual students,” said councillor Clive Doucet.

Council had originally voted to cap the age for the student bus discount at 27 at a meeting last December. The decision came into effect July 1, and required students over the age of 27 to pay the adult price for a bus pass.

The cap would have cost older students about $220 more per year and would have brought in an estimated $220,000 of annual revenue for the city.

Transit committee chair and councillor Alex Cullen recommended to council that the issue be reconsidered given new and pertinent information that emerged at a City of Ottawa transit committee meeting Sept. 1.

The transit committee heard delegations from CUSA, Carleton’s Graduate Students’ Association, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Algonquin College Student Association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 4600.

These issues include that the more accurate age of graduating from post-secondary studies is 33 as opposed to 28, that there are many more Canadian cities that do not have age caps than was presumed and that older students are collecting just as much student debt as younger students are.

After a short discussion with councillors, a motion was passed to reverse the age limit.

 “This will affect roughly 3,300 Carleton students,” CUSA president Erik Halliwell said in his statement to the committee. “This is tantamount to a 5 per cent tuition fee hike.”

A three-quarter vote, or 18 of the 24 councillors’ support, would normally be necessary to reverse the age cap. However, councillors decided at the Sept. 9 meeting that only a simple majority was required because of the new information presented by the delegations.

As to where city council would account for $220,000 in the budget to make up for the reversal, Cullen confirmed with OC Transpo Director Alain Mercier that the issue would be dealt with at the end of the fiscal year “through the process of reconciliation.”

CUSA vice-president (student issues) Nick Bergamini credited city council’s unanimous decision to the hard lobbying efforts of students over the past week.

“By petitioning, calling, e-mailing and letting them know about this issue, city council became a lot more responsive,” said Bergamini. “We are definitely ready to celebrate.”