Kwantlen U-Pass by 2009?

Kwantlen students are one step closer to getting U-Passes.

The Kwantlen Student Association has reached a tentative agreement with Translink for a $19-a-month pass. The KSA now wants to collaborate with other universities in Greater Vancouver to present Translink with a more unified plan, after which they hope to put it to a referendum for students in the spring. If successful, the U-Pass should be implemented by next fall.

“What we’re doing right now is talking to the institutions, trying to come up with a unified plan because all the U-Passes that have happened in the past have come about because of students from the university collaborating and coming as one application for a U-Pass,” said Derek Robertson, Director of External Affairs for the KSA.

A U-Pass is a transit pass valid for unlimited bus and Skytrain travel for one semester, as well as a $2 discount on West Coast Express tickets. The U-Pass has been available to students at UBC and Simon Fraser University since 2003, and Langara students since May 2008, according to the Translink website. Translink is currently negotiating with the student associations of seven other institutions, including Kwantlen.

The KSA has been involved in off-and-on negotiations with Translink since 2003. The KSA began by collaborating with other student unions but soon left the table because Kwantlen was expected to subsidize the U-Pass for smaller schools.

“We’re not elected to pretty much shaft the students of Kwantlen because students at the VCC or Emily Carr or schools like that get a cheaper U-Pass,” Robertson said. “So we said no, and then there was the period when RAF (Reduce All Fees) was in power, which they didn’t do anything for the U-Pass, and then it started up again in the last year. So, it had hurdles, and that’s why it took so long.”

Kwantlen also has a relatively low transit ridership rate, currently an average of 18% of students attending the four campuses. Translink operates under a revenue-neutral model, according to Robertson, which means it will lose money as more students take advantage of the heavily-subsidized transit services provided by a U-Pass.

“If they take $19 a month from Kwantlen and only 18 per cent of students use it, they’re still making money off it, but what they don’t see is that if you implement a U-Pass then ridership goes up,” he said, adding that when SFU implemented the U-Pass, transit ridership doubled within two years.

A Translink representative was not available for comment.

Inaugurating the university’s new leaders

David Atkinson and Arvinder Bubber stood proudly in flowing robes as they were inaugurated into their new leadership roles during a ceremony at Kwantlen Polytechnic University on Oct. 3.

The ceremony was held at the Surrey campus, and began with a march-in of Kwantlen leaders, board members and prominent members of the community, such as Mary Polak, MP for Langley, and Russ Hiebert, MP for South Surrey, White Rock and Cloverdale.

The installation of Atkinson as president and vice chancellor, and Bubber as chancellor, involved them being asked series of questions and having them respond with “I will so do” to each. Following that, the two were stripped of their purple and red robes, and re-dressed in black and red ones.

The convocation wrapped up with a blanketing ceremony which was carried out by members of the Kwantlen First Nation.

Parking fees hiked to ‘keep standards,’ promote transit use

Kwantlen students are paying more to park, but the college says rates are still low compared to other colleges.

Kwantlen students who drive to school but don’t have parking permits have seen a small hike in parking rates.

Both daily and four-hour parking fees have increased by 25¢, with daily parking costing students $4, and a four-hour fee now $2.75. Weekly e-permits are now $13, up $1, and carpool semester permits have risen $5 to $82.50. Unreserved and reserved semester permits have been increased $5 and $10, and now cost $95 and $165 respectively. There have been no changes made for two-semester permits.

“Comparative to all other colleges around the area, like BCIT, Capilano, Douglas and Langara, we are still relatively low with the parking rates,” said Sandy Kwan, reporting and systems accounting analyst in Kwantlen. “Just because our rates are relatively cheaper compared to all other colleges…that was the main reason [for the increase].”

Even with Kwantlen’s new status as a university, Kwan explains that the institution was comparing parking rates with other polytechnic universities, such as BCIT, rather than larger universities like UBC and SFU, whose rates “are still quite a bit more.”

“We want just to keep our standards with all the other colleges, too,” Kwan said.

Kwan said another reason Kwantlen decided on the increase was the number of students who park without paying. “[Students] would just park without a parking ticket or without a parking pass and they would probably get one ticket every few months. So in relation, it was still cheaper to get the ticket rather than buy the parking pass,” said Kwan.

Kwantlen is also hoping increased parking fees will promote public transportation. “By increasing the rates, people will more likely be taking transit…there are more and more cars each year on the road, and if some were to take transit, that would free up space,” said Kwan.

The increased rates will also help pay for parking improvements in the Surrey and Cloverdale campuses, Kwan said.

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