All Posts Tagged With: "OC Transpo"
Students declare “death of affordable transit”
Zombies protest 17 per cent U-Pass increase
Photo by Jane Gerster of The Charlatan
Zombies welcomed public transit users at Carleton University’s main bus stop on Halloween morning. The students in costume were protesting what they called “the death of affordable and accessible transit,” and were collecting signatures from supporters to send to city council.
The protest was a response to the local transit authority, OC Transpo, which announced that Ottawa university students will pay $180 per semester for their universal transit passes (U-Passes) next year. That’s a 17 per cent hike from the $145 they paid this year. According to the Carleton Undergraduate Students’ Association, the new price—$360 a year for most students—means Ottawa and Carleton will have Canada’s most expensive student transit passes.
In contrast, consider that students at Dalhousie University in Halifax pay only $69 per semester.
Continue reading Students declare “death of affordable transit”
Age cap on student bus passes reversed
In rare unanimous decision, Ottawa city council votes to remove 28+ age limit on student passes
Ottawa’s city council has voted unanimously to allow students 28 and older to purchase student bus passes again.
City council set the age limit on student bus passes last December, and once the policy took effect in July students began protesting the decision.
Students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa presented council with 2,400 signatures demanding that the policy be reversed. Student groups argued that all students face the same type of financial barriers, regardless of their age.
Many city councillors spoke in favour of the motion, some admitting they had made a serious mistake. Others also took the opportunity to criticize council’s decision to reject a universal bus pass proposal earlier this year.
The move will cost OC Transpo $220,000 per year, but saves students 28 and older about $20 on a monthly bus pass.
Ottawa students demand reversal of age cap on bus passes
City council will decide Sept. 9 if it will reverse policy forcing students 28+ to purchase pricier adult pass
The City of Ottawa is one step closer to removing an age limit for student bus passes, a move that student groups have criticized since the policy started in July.
The Ottawa transit committee voted unanimously to recommend city council reverse a policy that prevents students 28 or older from purchasing a student bus pass. Council will revisit the issue on Sept. 9, but a reversal will need the support of 75 per cent of council as it has already been debated once this year.
“It’s going to take some convincing,” says Nick Bergamini, vice president student issues with the Carleton University Students’ Association. “But we’re going to be lobbying really hard in the next few days.
“It’s our top priority.”
The age limit means that students 28 and over will have to pay the $84.75 adult price for monthly bus passes, instead of the $65.25 student price. In an eight-month school year, this would mean an additional cost of $156 per student. Students who normally purchase semester passes will pay an additional $194 over two semesters, while those who purchase a yearly pass will pay an extra $268.60 per year.
The age cap affects thousands of students across the city, including Will Samuel, a 32-year-old anthropology student at Carleton University. He says he is going to have to make sacrifices to pay for his bus pass this year.
“Every year I rely heavily on every penny pinched,” says Samuel, who is in the fourth year of his honours degree. ”I can either not afford books, a new winter coat I desperately need or glasses and contacts to replace my four year old glasses that are damaged.”
Many local student groups made presentations to council, including both undergraduate and graduate student associations at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, the Algonquin College Students’ Association and several other smaller universities and colleges.
Over 50 people showed up to the transit committee meeting to support a reversal of the age cap policy, says Bergamini. He says representatives from CUSA will be collecting petitions and meeting with city councillors throughout the week to try and win support, while similar initiatives are underway at other schools.
Over 2,300 people have joined a Facebook group condemning an age cap on student passes
The age limit on student passes would save OC Transpo, Ottawa’s transit provider, $220,000 per year, according to internal estimates. But students have argued that they are already overburdened with tuition payments and living expenses, and that an age limit is an unfair cash grab.
OC Transpo has been struggling to balance the budget since a 51-day transit strike last winter cost it millions of dollars in revenues. A recent OC Transpo report also revealed that it spent nearly $2 million over budget paying workers overtime to repair and recertify buses after the strike.
OC Transpo spends nearly $2 million over budget on overtime work
Are you too old for a student bus pass?
Students call age limit on discounted passes ageism, cash grab
As of July 1, student bus passes in Ottawa will only be available to those 27 and younger – and some students are not too happy about it.
Older students must now pay the full adult rate for a monthly pass, $84.75, instead of a $65.25 student monthly pass. They can no longer purchase semester or annual student passes, which offer additional savings.
Student outrage has sparked a Facebook group with nearly 1,500 members as of July 16. Student leaders in Ottawa condemned the new policy, which passed last December.
“If you’re a student, you’re a student,” says Erik Halliwell, president of the Carleton University Students’ Association. “Many people are still in school after the age of 27, and many people are going back to retrain during the recession.”
He says the change affects about 3,300 students at Carleton University, including over 1,000 undergraduate students.
Algonquin College Students’ Association president Mike Hirsch calls the change “a tremendous mistake” that “unfairly disadvantages a very large demographic at Algonquin College” in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen.
Although Hirsch could not be reached for comment, Halliwell says the ACSA is circulating a petition to remove the age limit.
Halliwell says he also intends to petition city councillors, and thinks the issue could become important in the 2010 municipal election. City council cannot revisit the issue until next year unless a special motion passes with support from 75 per cent of city councillors.
Representatives from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa have also expressed concern, but could not be reached for comment.
Some students are expected to attend tonight’s Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee meeting to plead their case, but Halliwell says the student union is preparing to confront council in September.
Several students have posted much harsher criticisms on a Facebook group called “Against the Age-Cut Off for Student Bus Passes.” Complaints range from “discrimination based on age” to “cash grab,” though some students have defended the policy.
The age limit will save Ottawa’s public transit service, OC Transpo, about $220,000 a year, according to the motion passed by council. The limit is based on the amount of time a student would take to achieve a doctorate if they were in school continuously.
OC Transpo’s revenues are down this year after a 51-day strike by employees took buses off the road. Several other changes have been made to increase revenue, including increased prices for bus fares, tickets and passes. Council also rejected a proposal for a universal student transit pass at the University of Ottawa last March.
Feds could force Ottawa buses back on the road
End to two-month-long strike could depend on Liberal support
The federal government is prepared to end the continuing misery of Ottawa commuters by legislating striking transit drivers back to work, Labour Minister Rona Ambrose said Wednesday.
Although she cautioned that a speedy end to the nearly two-month-long dispute, which at times has paralyzed the city, will depend on co-operation with the opposition Liberals.
“When the government sees a situation where there is clearly no compromise or no flexibility being shown by either side to reach an agreement, it is our obligation to act,” she said. “I’m prepared to introduce back-to-work legislation. However, I do need the support of the opposition.”
Ambrose said there were overtures made to the Liberals about supporting back-to-work legislation. But it was unclear late Wednesday whether they would support the measure. The NDP have said they will not.
Earlier in the day, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty pressed the federal government to end the labour dispute, which comes under Ottawa’s jurisdiction because the bus routes cross the Ontario-Quebec border, into Gatineau, Quebec.
“It’s dramatically affecting our economy at a time when we can’t afford to have these kind of things get in the way,” said McGuinty, who represents an Ottawa riding in the legislature.
McGuinty’s comments came as the Amalgamated Transit Union rejected the City of Ottawa’s “revised bargaining strategy,” saying the city has failed to significantly alter its position.
They also follow attempts by McGuinty’s own government to force striking faculty at York University in Toronto back to work after an 83-day strike that locked out thousands of students.
In Ottawa, the union representing OC Transpo drivers, dispatchers and mechanics had returned to the bargaining table with city negotiators and a federal mediator Monday after city council changed its contract proposal.
But ATU International vice-president Randy Graham later said the city’s new contract offer was “show,” and the talks broke down yet again.
The city remains “entrenched” on the issues of wages and work schedules, Graham said.
