Waah! IwantitIwantitIwantit!!!

Luckily, we have children making the decisions for us.

The class pass is up for rereferendum, and the price has gone up. I personally think that fee increases should be voted on by the folks paying the bills, because as things stand, kids whose parents pay for them or who are covered by financial aid only consider the benefits of "free bus rides" in exchange for an abstract concept of "fee increases." E.g.:

"I would support (the referendum) if they have to raise the fees," said senior Pammy O'Leary, a former Student Action candidate for ASUC external affairs vice president. "I don't like the fee increases, but I don't want to lose my bus pass."

Note that she says "fee increases," which suggests she's not really viewing it as a purchase.

Anyway, the referendum, which will certainly pass for the reasons stated above (the folks who are opposed are the ones who don't care about the buses and aren't going to run to the "polls" to vote), is to extend the Class Pass system for the higher fee of $55. Currently, bus rides are $1.75 a pop, so that's a little over 31 rides a semester. If you use the bus regularly, that's good, if you don't, that's probably bad.

But our mature government wants more stuff.

"The costs students paid for the class pass have been held fixed over the years. So while transit fares have gone up over the years, the class pass fee has not," said Nadesan Permaul, director of transportation at UC Berkeley. "The fee increases will help pay for significant increases in expenses experienced by both AC Transit and Bear Transit. Students are also going to pick up a larger portion of Bear Transit costs."

The ASUC and the Graduate Assembly, however, lobbied the chancellor and a university parking committee to delay the vote and include new services for students in the referendum, saying the increases, which currently do not come with additional services for students, would not be fair, said Alan Lightfeldt, chief of staff for ASUC External Affairs Vice President Sharon Han.

Hmm... costs have gone up... but to pay more without getting something extra would be unfair. Right. Children.

If students vote to increase fees, the pass, which currently allows registered UC Berkeley students unlimited rides on AC Transit and university-run Bear Transit lines, would increase from $37.50 to $55-60 per semester for the next three years.

...

The increased fees would be in effect until 2013, when they would need to be renewed again through another referendum.

We can reach 2013 in three years, eh? Those must be some long years.

posted by Beetle Aurora Drake 11/29/2005 12:07:00 PM #
Comments (5)

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Comments:

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# posted by  J Koo : 12:52 PM, November 29, 2005

 

Well, I'd pay that much just to avoid the ridiculous lines of poor students who are desperate to find exact change. Can you imagine the 30 kids that get on from Telegraph and Durant each trying to fish $1.75 because no one is considerate enough to look inside their wallet and have the money ready despite it being the ONLY thing they're going to spend money on in the next 5 minutes. Cuts stress just to flash a pass.

# posted by  J Koo : 12:53 PM, November 29, 2005

 

Good post. I'm tired of students living in a god-damned bubble. Yes, when things become more expensive, you have to pay more for them. Considering how long the pass's rate has stayed flat it's high-time to raise the fee. For crying out loud people; these whiners sound like employers who dont want an increased minimum wage. They refuse to acknowledge that prices that don't change over time actually become cheaper in the face of overall inflation.

# posted by  Anonymous : 7:52 PM, November 29, 2005

 

Well, an opt-out feature would also be nice. When I was at UCB, it went from 25 to 35. I knew it was a good deal for most people, but not for me. The 64 never ran on time, and some of the other bus lines were even worse (ever walked through the part-industrial, part-super-ghetto area of Oakland near the coliseum because you've been waiting an hour for a bus that's supposed to come every 20 minutes, but Bart is only a 15-minute walk, so you risk it? After doing it twice, I just stopped trying to get to and from work on the bus, and found alternate forms of transport.)

# posted by  Anonymous : 10:57 PM, December 01, 2005

 

An opt-out feature isn't reasonable, because then AC Transit would get less money but have the same load. If we wanted an opt-out feature, the fee would have to be even higher. (which is fine by me, but it'll never get OKed)

# posted by  Beetle Aurora Drake : 10:46 AM, December 02, 2005

 

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