Editor, the Gauntlet,
Re: "Universal transit before Universal Pass," Jan. 17, 2002,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I live in Dalhousie, the wonderful community that the city has decided to put an LRT station in. The original plan was for this station to be up and running by fall 2000. Perfect, I thought, my first semester at university. Due to delays, not only is the station not yet built, but I will be done my degree before the station is scheduled to be done in fall 2004.
While I do find many aspects of the U-Pass to be somewhat beneficial to students, such as it was to many SAIT students, there are far too many faults to give my support. I personally saved all my extra money for the last few years so that I could buy myself a car. Monday through Friday I park in Lot 11, spending $22.50 every two weeks just for parking. If this U-Pass does go through, I will still be spending my $22.50, plus $50.00 tacked onto my tuition so that I can park an extra two rows closer. With rising tuition costs these added fees are becoming unbearable to those students that are struggling to pay as it is.
Granted $50 does sound a lot better to me than $157.50 a semester, as I’m sure it does to everyone who is forced to park everyday and not only those who pay for monthly bus passes. But I do not want to get up extra early to catch that one bus, stand because there are no seats due to twice as many students getting on and then hike across campus. I want to be able to hop in my car, listen to my music, park, and leave whenever I want. I don’t want to be forced to pay for something I will not use, especially when I think that the lack of revenue for transit due to the drastic cut in cost will only create worse service, and an overloaded system.
If they are willing to improve their services and build more LRT extensions, then I would be more than willing to join my fellow students on Calgary Transit. However, Natasha Dhillon still has some negotiating to do before she receives my support.