Early student support for U-Pass proposal with Transit Windsor

University of Windsor students will once again vote on whether they want to pay extra tuition for a discounted bus pass.

The school's student alliance held a town hall meeting Wednesday to provide more information about potentially bringing a U-Pass to the school through a partnership with Transit Windsor.

The initial deal would be for three years and would give students living outside the city boundaries the ability to opt out if they like.

President of the University of Windsor Student Alliance, Jaydee Tarpeh, says the ability to opt out will make the difference in this year's vote.

"It's always been the elephant in the room," says Tarpeh. "We have a lot of students from the country...we've had [referendums] two or three times now and the problem has been the opt out, so if we were ever going to get this to happen it would have to have some sort of opt out clause."

In 2012 the university held a similar referendum which did not include the opt out option it did not pass.

Pat Delmore, the executive director of Transit Windsor, says he too thinks the opt out option will get more positive votes.

"We had an opportunity to sit down and brainstorm what are the needs of the students, what are the things that they're looking for in a universal bus pass program," he said."Perfect example is the opt out clause. We know in 2012 that the opt out clause was a very important one for the students, and potentially part of the reason that it was turned down."

U-Pass is cost effective

The pricing depends on whether the Graduate Student Society (GSS) decides to jump on board. If GSS agrees, the pass would cost $132 per school year, but that cost would escalate to $165 if GSS doesn't join.

Matthew Charbonneau uses the bus to get around and supports the U-Pass idea, especially since it would cost about a third of a regular transit pass, he says.

"It would make life easier for students," says Charbonneau who came to the meeting. "It makes more sense to buy things in bulk, it lowers the cost for students, it helps Transit Windsor to function more efficiently, just over all I think it makes things easier."

Late-night bus, train loop

The deal would also include a late-night bus that would run Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. for students who want to go out downtown.

"It's very expensive to take a taxi...sometimes it's even harder to find a taxi late at night, so to have this option for students to bring them back home safely would be very beneficial," says Nadine Darsa.

She currently drives to school and pays $6 a day for parking. Darsa says it would be a lot cheaper to take the bus, and would save her the daily headache of finding a spot.

Transit Windsor would also have a bus on the train station look running for an hour on Fridays and Sundays.

Students get to vote if the want the U-Pass on March 16 and 17.