Opinion: basic U-pass a better deal for students

By Kat Slepian

The Kwantlen Student Association MultiPass would have been better without all the extra baggage.

The only useful thing that the KSA has added onto the basic U-Pass is the intercampus shuttle, and even that is absolutely pointless to the Richmond students.

Instead the Richmond students are forced to rely on the 301, which doesn’t always line up well with class schedules, especially since the last bus leaves Surrey campus at 8:40 p.m., leaving those with night classes with no convenient way to get back to Richmond.

It’s also worth noting that the KSA took almost two weeks to get the schedule online, relying on campus posters for the first half of September.

The Langley Park & Ride system might be useful, but Langley is not a well-populated campus, so it’s debatable just how valuable the MultiPass is for Langley drivers.

The Richmond Gold’s Gym membership is nice in theory, but in practice the gym is in the middle of nowhere. Two things keep gym goers motivated; not wanting to waste their money and a convenient location. Gold’s Richmond offers neither.

The Car Share program could cost you almost $13 a trip if you’re using it to get between campuses, which is a little pricey for the average university student. It would have also been nice to see the rates on the web site the KSA made expressly to promote the Multipass.

Is the MultiPass still worth it? Yes, but only to the students already taking public transit who would have loved it more without the $10-per-month bells and whistles.