Thursday, February 16, 2006
Wait a second...
On Tuesday, we received an e-mail from Bob the Chancet00. Included are links to the websites supporting each of the two fees that are coming up. Not included are links to the websites opposing them. And, unlike the Temina Madon Suicide Guilt Tax, it's not like these websites don't exist. I found out about this website from the giant full-page ad in the Daily Cal where, true to ASUC form, the website URL is incorrect. (The capitalization is wrong) Good job, ASUC!
Anyway, as the university always supports fee increases, this apparently wasn't worth passing along in the system-wide e-mail. I wonder if, once again, we're going to see the "PRO" argument on the voting website itself.
By the way, check out the Parking and Transportation Class Pass support page. In the section 2006 Class Pass Referendum:
This referendum proposes a seven-year fee structure, continuing the Class Pass through the 2012-13 year. The new Class Pass fee if approved by students will replace the existing Class Pass fee of $37.20 per semester, which will expire after the summer 2006 semester.
and...
This referendum proposes a seven-year fee structure, continuing the Class Pass through the 2012-13 year. The new Class Pass fee if approved by students will replace the existing Class Pass fee of $37.20 per semester, which will expire after the summer 2006 semester.
While those are exactly the same words, they're pulled from two different paragraphs. One thing to note is that the size of the new fee isn't mentioned at all, only that it will replace the old fee (of $37.20 a semester). Of course, the new fee is not $37.20 a semester. It's $58.50 a semester. And then it's $69.50 a semester. And then it's $80.00 a semester.
Beginning in September 2005, a single ride on an AC Transit bus will cost $1.75 per local trip and $3.50 for individual Transbay trips. Monthly passes will cost $70.00 for local trips and $116.00 for Transbay service. Bear Transit campus shuttle rides are currently $0.25 each, with the exception of the hill shuttles, which cost $0.50 per ride. Therefore, the Class Pass, with an annual value of nearly $1,400, is an incredible bargain at a fee about one-twelfth of the regular user cost.
If you're curious where that $1,400 number comes from, I believe it comes from assuming that students were going to buy 12 monthy Transbay passes. So if you were going to buy that, then yeah, it's one-twelfth of the regular user cost. But if you're a normal person, not so much. If you're just looking at AC transit, the cost is more than 33, and less than 34 trips per semester, or around two buses a week (say, a round trip). (If I was one of these people who writes these websites, I'd use the $80.00 fee and calculate that it's really 46 trips, but I'm not an asshole, like fee increase advocates are)
Anyway, buried in text you can find the actual prices in the Proposed Class Pass Fees section, though your eyes are meant to be diverted to the fancy table in the next section, Class Pass Program History, which describes the fee structure for the last four years. Notice that the years aren't labelled 2001-2006, as would make sense, because then it would be clear that these lower prices are not what we're voting for. Instead, they're simply labelled "Year 1" through "Year 4," in hopes that people will be easily duped.
So, yeah, if you want to be an ass and force everyone else to subsidize your probably unnecessary bus riding habits, vote for the Class Pass. Even if it feels free, that doesn't mean it is free. Students have gotten so used to it that they'll probably feel it's necessary, even if they only use the bus once a month or so. That way, AC Transit can fuck us in the ass year after year by constantly increasing the fee, confident that students, many of whom pass the costs on to their parents and don't notice, will keep voting so that their bottle isn't taken away.
(If you can't tell, I'm opposed to it)
. . .
|
. . .
|
