After Regina City Council decided to extend the U-Pass to spring and summer semesters, the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) says this is good news for their university students.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting, councillors decided to extend the program for the next three years. The program sees the union make $80,000 per year.
URSU President Victor Oriola says this is exciting news for the students’ union, who has been fighting for this for most of the school year, as well as Regina Transit.
He believes they will see more passengers utilize transit in the city because of this decision.
“It’s also a victory for the pockets of students,” suggested Oriola. “The number of people using the U-Pass has increased, and this is the third year the pass has been a thing at the University of Regina. The longer this goes on, the more people there will be using the U-Pass.”
With roughly 16,000 students attending the university, Oriola says the U-Pass is an effective way to help students who can take the bus alleviate the parking situation for those who need to drive in.
“It is a big campus, but it simply isn’t designed to house that many cars for the duration that people tend to do business at a university.”
However there was some opposition to the U-Pass extension due to a lack of students using it.
Councillor Bob Hawkins opposed the U-Pass decision, saying too many students are paying for this program even though they don’t use it.
Oriola feels more students will look to access the program with this change.
