Media Release

For Immediate Release

March 15, 2010

Students Concerned New U-Pass will include Jacked Up Price

VANCOUVER – Students commend Transportation Minister Bond on her announcement of a September 2010 U-Pass and anxiously wait to hear if they will have a $25 U-Pass or if the price will be jacked up.

Last Friday Minister Bond confirmed to The Province that the government would honour it’s May election promise to, “introduce a common U-Pass program for all post-secondary students” even though the BC budget did not include funding for the program.  Minister Bond would not comment on the program price, which has students worried.

“Minister Bond’s comments reflect a real commitment to the standardization of the wildly successful U-Pass program but the issue of affordability and fairness are critical to the success of a Metro Vancouver U-Pass” said Tiffany Kalanj, spokesperson for the OnePassNow Coalition.  “A fair price is the expansion of the UBC and SFU U-Pass programs which cost students about $25 every month.” Students remain optimistic that the government will soon announce a price which both protects UBC and SFU’s U-Pass and standardizes the program for the rest of Metro Vancouver.”

The OnePassNow campaign is a joint project of the Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver, Douglas Students’ Union, Emily Carr Students’ Union, and the Students’ Union of Vancouver Community College.

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For more information, please contact:

Tiffany Kalanj, Media Contact

OnePassNow

604.916.7376