Coming Soon: U-Pass Referendum and Possible Price Hikes

There will be some changes regarding KPU’s U-Pass/Compass Card program

Kwantlen Polytechnic University, along with several other universities in Metro Vancouver, will soon be voting in the new U-Pass referendum. The referendum will ask students whether or not they want to keep paying for the mandatory U-Pass, were the price to increase.

The referendum will take place on Nov. 24 and 25, and all students need to bring is their students IDs to vote. However, regardless of the vote, the price will be increased in May 2016 from $37 to $38.50, and one year later the price will increase again to $41 per month.

The U-Pass has long been part of student fees and provides an alternative to driving and costly parking fees. There are, however, some disadvantages worth mentioning, the most glaring one being the strain this pricing increase will put on students who do not use the U-Pass.

Kwantlen’s contract with TransLink is slightly different from other universities, as Kwantlen’s deal involves the University, TransLink, and the Kwantlen Student Association. Our U-Pass is part of a bigger contract which includes the campus-to-campus shuttle service, discounted gym memberships, bicycle lockers, and a car-sharing program, which explains the higher price KPU students pay.

“We held a referendum and asked students if they would agree to pay another $10 on top of the $37 they had to pay for the U-Pass,” says vice-president external of the KSA, Alex McGowan. “With that referendum we determined that a majority of KPU students would benefit from the extra services that the KSA could get them for that additional $10.”

With regards to the price increase, it should be noted that inflation has gone up since the time TransLink got into the U-Pass contract, which means that sooner or later the company was bound to make some changes. McGowan explains that, “Contracts vary between three-to-five years, so as the KSA started to get into negotiations with TransLink, they rolled out the new Compass Card. This made them hold out on negotiating with us and just gave us this new price for us to decide upon.”

“However on our end of the deal, we can’t increase the fee we agreed upon with the students,” says McGowan. “That’s why we hold referendums, because we want to make sure that students have a say in what they are paying for.”