During the 2009 election campaign, the B.C. premier promised a province-wide U-Pass for post-secondary students across B.C. by September 2010, and the province’s transportation minister has announced that promise will be honoured.
However, Benjamin Newsom, U-Pass program co-ordinator for the Kwantlen Student Association, said he has not yet announced the U-Pass news to students because at the moment he is unsure how the government will implement the plans.
According to Jeff Knight, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the U-Pass will be available to students attending 11 of the province’s 44 institutions including University of Victoria and University of British Columbia.
“The transportation ministry is currently working with its transit partners – BC Transit and TransLink – as well as post-secondary institutions and student unions to gather information to determine how best to implement a provincial U-Pass,” Knight said. “As it gathers this information, the ministry is developing options for government to consider.
Knight said the ministry is unsure how much the U-Pass will cost per student.
“At this point, we can’t speculate on how the structure and funding for a province-wide U-Pass will work,” Knight said.
“We are confident that it will be designed in a way that will work,” said Ken Hardie of the Translink Media Centre. “TransLink has worked closely with the government on the technical details of a U-Pass program.”