Last week I had written about how much money it was plausible to save by taking public transportation. After that, I have came to the realization that there are a many completely different options for student bus passes across the country. The example I used of the pass in Winnipeg turned out to be close to average, so that’s good as far as the comparison proceeded to go; however, soon after considering the various options across Canada I thought it could be helpful to make note of the differences.

Probably the most debatable component of student bus passes in Canada is the capability of a majority of university students on some campuses to make the passes mandatory. Universities such as the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, Saint Mary’s University, and the University of Western Ontario have organised student referendums where students decided to add bus passes together with their overall tuition and student user fees. At Ottawa this lead to a law suit by 9 students against the University because they felt discriminated against.

Naturally this scenario has some positives and disadvantages. The really low cost of public transportation for those that use it is an undeniable incentive. For those campuses the rate was reduced to approximately a hundred dollars flat for the year! This is probably because of the improved volume of sales. The fact that students are made to get passes would also improve the overall usage rates. This has good spin-off environmental effects, along with the previously mentioned financial ones.

Myself personally, the disadvantages are a lot more prevalent to me. During my time at the University of Manitoba we had a referendum on whether to put together a required package for public transportation to be supported by all students. I just simply cannot get past the fact that it shouldn’t be considered realistic for a minor majority of students to trample the rights of a massive minority and take money out of their pockets to subsidize their preferred form of transportation. If I remember correctly, there was presently a percentage of the money used from parking service fees to help offset student bus pass costs. This is still a hard sell for me despite the environmental benefits. Of course as a car owner I am definitely bias.

My personal distaste for particular aspects of public transportation is probably a result of the Winnipeg pubic transit system. No matter how much money I was saving I couldn’t justify the consistent waste of time. The schedules were never correct, the constant rudeness of travellers, and the horrible weather aspect of life in Winnipeg, was enough to motivate me to get my own car.

In the instance that I had went to school in British Columbia I would possibly have a very different view of student bus passes. After a comment from a local regarding her public transportation experience, I looked into the Vancouver area possible choices. I was impressed by the wonderful deal they got and the fact it was not subsidized by other students (this means it doesn’t penalize the students that walk, bike, or drive to school). The U-Pass (universal pass) is readily availablefor sale to post-secondary students for the low price of $30 monthly. The really good part of the deal is that this doesn’t solely cover the bus, but the Seabus and SkyTrain services as well! With such a complete variety of options I would suppose there is a reasonable amount of success with the program there.

In comparison, Winnipeg charges over $70 monthly for its substandard patchwork of buses. Other monthly public transportation rates for students consist of $89 for a metro pass in Toronto, $41 in Montreal for a merged metro and bus pass, $71 for a student bus pass in Saskatoon, and Calgary didn’t even have a student price from the information I have been able to see on their web site. The general adult rate there for a month-to-month bus pass is $90.

One other thing people (not just students) who use bus passes should be advised of is the non-refundable tax credit available. For the majority of people you can get a pretty good idea of how much money you should receive on your taxes by multiplying the annual cost of your bus passes by .15 (15%). This is a good little reward incentive for those of you who are already financially and environmentally conscious enough to use public transportation.

Student Bus Passes are an excellent method for saving money when attending school. Cheap student public transportation is crucial to any university interested in make a subsidised service to their students.