The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) are continuing to renegotiate the terms of the U-Pass for Carleton students with OC Transpo.
The negotiations, which began last November, are exploring the option of a a summer U-Pass for students.
Despite last year’s negotiations, the U-Pass is not available for the summer of 2015.
GSA president Michael Bueckert said negotiations haven’t focused on a summer U-Pass program but added the “option is not off the table.”
He said the GSA is considering holding a referendum during the upcoming school year to seek approval from students for a summer U-Pass program.
CUSA president Fahd Alhattab said he is hoping to hold a referendum this fall to determine support for a summer U-Pass.
“We’re going to hope to try and run a pre-survey before our referendum to see [how] students feel,” Alhattab said.
Alhattab said he is still in discussions to determine if the summer U-Pass would be an opt-in program or a full-year program.
“If every student paid into it, it would reduce the cost . . . and then you’d just get the U-Pass for a full year,” Alhattab said. “If it’s an opt-in depending on if you take classes . . . then you have to pay [extra],” he said.
Pat Scrimgeour, assistant general manager of Customer Systems and Planning for the City of Ottawa, said OC Transpo is open to providing a summer U-Pass for Carleton students in the future.
He said U-Pass discussions between OC Transpo and Carleton “are still underway and going well.”
Alhattab said discussions have also focused on fraudulent use of the U-Pass. Students sometimes lose or give away their U-Passes, he said, and OC Transpo is losing money as a result.
“Finding better ways to make sure [the U-Pass] is being effectively used is part of the discussion,” Alhattab said.
Upcoming negotiations will also focus on getting buses at Carleton to match class schedules, according to Alhattab.
“The majority of classes finish at [9 pm] and there’s, like, one bus that comes by. We need [buses] then,” he said.
Bueckert said despite negotiations going well, the GSA is unhappy the university does not allow the student unions to call a meeting between them, Carleton, and OC Transpo regarding issues with the U-Pass.
“There is no formal binding mechanism that would allow the GSA or CUSA to call a meeting,” he said.
“This means that our ability to sit down with Carleton and OC Transpo relies on their willingness to meet,” Bueckert added.
The next meeting for negotiations will take place in July, according to Alhattab.
