Memorial University (MUN) students have voted overwhelmingly against a proposed discounted Metrobus program.
Memorial’s universal transit pass (U-Pass) aimed to expand and enhance Metrobus routes to the university. It would have added $139 per semester to fees for all full-time students registered at the St. John’s campus, Centre for Nursing Studies and Marine Institute unless they qualified for an opt-out.
Results of the student vote were released on Thursday, with 71 per cent of those who voted saying no to the program. Fifty-six per cent of eligible voters voted, with 4,965 students voting against the program and 2,012 voting in favour.
The student vote was non-binding and the ultimate decision about whether the U-Pass will go ahead remains with the board of regents, at its meeting on March 14.
Memorial University’s administration recommended that the board of regents not proceed with a U-Pass program.
“Obviously, it’s not a solution that they’re interested in, and we respect that,” said Jordan Wright, manager with the office of the associate vice-president (facilities).
Wright was involved with the U-Pass consultations from the beginning.
He said the university was “very excited” about the level of student engagement in the process. Many of the ideas brought forward by students about the kind of public transit system they would like to see will be brought to the city to help inform its ongoing public transit review, Wright said.
“We’re hoping to relay that information to them so they have a sense of what the university community is looking for in public transit,” he said.
Meanwhile, at least one student on campus said he was shocked by the result.
“It’s like the MUN Donald Trump moment, or similar to the U.K. when Brexit happened — you know, a lot of people were expecting that the yes side was going to win, and so what happened is like the students rose up against the establishment, the administration, and made their voices loud and clear,” Matthew Barter, a critic of the proposal and a third-year sociology and political science student.
Barter said it was difficult to determine how the vote would go because there were passionate, outspoken voices on both sides.
St. John’s Coun. Dave Lane, a member of the transportation commission and a proponent of the U-Pass, said he is disappointed by the outcome.
“I thought that it was a great program that would have been to excellent benefit of all students, but I definitely respect their voice and the vote,” Lane said.
“It’s unfortunate, but at the end of the day I think that when you’re asking people to vote if they would like to pay more money when, particularly for students, you’re generally cash-strapped anyway, it’s not shocking to me that they voted against it.”
Lane said the city hadn’t based any future public transportation plans on the U-Pass success, noting it continues to focus on increasing ridership.
Lane said one of the challenges was that some students didn’t want to pay for Metrobus without seeing the service improved first — what he called a “chicken and an egg problem.”
“If we want to make any notable improvements, we have to make a significant investment, but the thing is that Metrobus service is already heavily subsidized by taxpayers, so making further investments is very difficult to do.”
Lane said the students’ fees would have helped improve the public transit service for routes of particular interest to students.
“Maybe some years in the future we can return to it if MUN would like to pursue the idea again.”
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