The universal bus pass service at Laurentian University will continue in the 2024-25 school year and beyond following a vote by students at the university last week.
Students voted in favour of retaining the “U-Pass,” a service that paid out roughly $1.1 million to City of Greater Sudbury coffers in the previous school year.
For the referendum to pass, there was a requirement for two of the three participating student associations to vote at least 51 per cent in favour of keeping the U-Pass, with a minimum of seven per cent of eligible voters having voted.
Members of the Students’ General Association (SGA) voted 54 per cent in favour of keeping the U-Pass.
Among the Association des étudiantes et étudiants francophones (AÉF) members, 43 per cent voted in favour. Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) members voted 66 per cent in favour.
The voter turnout was 43 per cent, and results across all eligible voters was 56 per cent in favour of keeping the U-Pass.
These results are binding for six years, so the issue will not be revisited until then.
Zarreen Brown, vice-president of education with the Laurentian University Students’ General Association (SGA), said she’s not surprised the vote was so close.
“It is honestly a very polarizing issue,” said Brown. “When we run student surveys, and we’ve tried to get students' sentiment of the past, it's always been very close …But I do believe that the referendum was essential anyway, to kind of confirm that the students vote like even if it is a small majority, that the majority does still want the service.”
In 2006, students paid $135 each per year for the U-Pass service. With the passage of 17 years, the same service now costs $225 per student for the 2023-24 school year, up from $218 per student in the previous school year.
That price is a significant discount from the more than $600 students would pay for the same service if they bought GOVA Transit passes directly from the city.
Students are able to opt out of the U-Pass service, but only under strict circumstances.
Examples of accepted reasons for an opt-out include requiring Handi-Transit services, or if a student lives more than a kilometre away from a bus stop. Simply having alternative transportation is not accepted as a reason for an opt-out.
Still, opt-outs cost student associations at Laurentian more than $20,000 in the last school year.
Regardless of opt-outs, the city still charges its full rate based on the student population.
This is a cost the SGA can ill afford, given financial pressures being experienced by the student association, which is servicing debt on its new student centre with a reduced student population following LU’s insolvency.
Brown said that in the referendum’s preamble, as well as in the information sessions about the vote, it was made clear that if the U-Pass was retained, the student associations would not continue to fund opt-outs.
The exception is Handi-Transit users, who would still be eligible for opt-outs.
“We still have to make our agreement with the City of Greater Sudbury, and of course we will have to have conversations with Laurentian,” Brown said.
“If the university would like to provide us with some funding so that we can opt out students, we would be more than happy to accept that … but from our perspective, we no longer have the finances to serve students with opt-outs.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
