UTSC students reject transit pass

About 73 per cent of the 2,400 students who voted last Wednesday and Thursday turned down the plan.

Called U-Pass, the plan would have offered students significant savings on transit passes. The passes would have cost $60 a month, compared to the $87.75 students now pay for a monthly Metropass.

However, many UTSC students were upset that participation would have been mandatory even if they don't use public transit.

Some students walk or drive to campus but all students would have been forced to pay for the pass as part of their annual student fees, charged when they register annually.

The student union helped negotiate the deal with the TTC but did not officially recommend whether students should have endorsed or rejected the plan.

Although student union president Rob Wulkan last week predicted the results would be too close to call given how deeply students were divided on the issue, he said he is pleased with the conclusive vote.

"Students have indicated pretty definitively that the deal that was put forward is not something they are in favour of," he said. "This will pretty much put the idea of a U-Pass to rest."

Not so fast, student Chris Smith said.

Smith is the student union's vice-president external but acted as an individual student in promoting the U-Pass.

He wants to take another kick at persuading the provincial government to help fund the program, something the student union has tried and failed to get Queen's Park to back.

The government hasn't been much help in providing support for more affordable student tuition so Smith is hoping to change politicians' minds when it comes to transit passes.

He argued students who voted against the U-Pass aren't opposed to cheaper transit fares, but they did take exception to all students being forced to participate in the program.

Wulkan said it will be up to next year's union executive to determine what action to take on the issue.