UPEI students vote for transit pass

A large majority of UPEI students who voted in a referendum on a transit pass supported the initiative.

All students at UPEI will now have to pay an extra $25 a semester, starting in January, for a special bus pass whether they take the bus or not. Previously, a four-month pass for a student would cost $200.

"I'm just so excited that the U-pass was seen as a favourable option to the student body," said Mike Cassidy, owner of Trius Tours, operators of Charlottetown Transit.

"This money goes right into the general revenue of the company to help operate public transit."

Seventy per cent of votes cast were in favour of the pass, but only 24 per cent of students voted.

This was the third year the student union had tried to add the bus passes. This is a two-year pilot project that will be voted on again in 2011.

Student union president Justin Douglas said he'd like to see the extra $165,000 the school will be pumping into transit go toward more bus routes to UPEI and a later service for students.

Cassidy said a new crosstown east-west bus route down Belvedere Avenue will be added in the next couple of weeks to help students have better access around Charlottetown.