Nov. 13, 2012 • Issue 11 • Volume 146 • 2
THE BRUNS
NEWS news@thebruns.ca
The price of a monthly student bus pass will increase by $3 in the new year. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
Price of monthly student bus pass to increase Cherise Letson News Editor The price increase of the monthly student bus pass is not an attack on students, said Bruce Grandy, councillor of ward two on Fredericton’s city council. Last Monday, city council passed in principle, a five-year strategy plan, which includes a $3 increase on the monthly student bus pass from $42 to $45 dollars. The five-year strategy plan will be officially passed on Dec. 11. Grandy said the increase was needed because of inflationary costs. He said because city transit is already heavily subsidized, and with ridership being so low, some of the costs need to come from those actually using the service. “Transit is very heavily subsidized by the tax payer,” said Grandy. “When we look at utilization, which is very low, we have to have some revenues coming back, to offset some of that subsidization.” “We need to ensure that we [have] balance between the user who pays, as well as the subsidization factor,” he said. Grandy said the price of the student bus pass hasn’t gone up since 2010, and is due for an increase. He
said the other types of bus passes are going to be increasing in the coming years. “There’re some, which will rise in 2014, 2015 and 2016, sequentially, depending on the rate structure and where they are. That’s the strategy the staff have brought back to council, which council adopted back, some time ago,” said Grandy. Grandy said, along with this increase, council expects a review by city transit, which will be looking at route changes and solving some of the issues of low ridership. He said, despite the city’s efforts to get more people taking the bus, it hasn’t been working. “We’ve done a lot of things on transit over the last couple years: we’ve had ‘free days’; we’ve discounted it down to 50 cents a ride; we’ve done a lot of promotion; and we’re still not getting pick-up on the ridership,” said Grandy. “We have a lot of buses going with nobody in them at a lot of the time, and that costs a lot of money.” Though the timing for the increase may seem suspicious with UNB students recently voting down a universal bus pass, Grandy said the increase is not an attack on students. “It’s not about picking on them; I
want to make sure they fully understand that we have different rate structures, and at different times, we’re increasing rates for ever y rider,” said Grandy. “Whether it be an adult, senior, our charter system, or our rider cards, we have to try to balance that revenue with subsidization.” “It’s not on the backs of students; it’s across the full board of ridership in the transit system.” Ward ten councillor, Leah Levac, who also teaches at Renaissance College, was the only councillor who voted against the increase. She said, the increase, along with the other financial struggles students face, can make them feel even more overwhelmed. “I think it effects students because you just feel slightly more pinched,” said Levac. “And that feeling of being slightly more pinched has economic impacts. I think it also has social and emotional impacts too.” “It makes it a little bit harder for me to say, ‘We really want students to stay in Fredericton. We really value the contribution students make to our community,’ when a student can say, ‘Well why did you just make it more expensive for me to take the bus?’,” said Levac.