By ALYSHA MILLER
The majority of the students who voted in the U-Pass referendum held by Conestoga Students Inc. (CSI) from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 were in favour of the plan to add a bus pass to tuition fees in 2013.
The survey, which was completed by 1,356 students, was sent to student email accounts of those enrolled in full-time programs at the Cambridge, Doon and Waterloo campuses.
Now that CSI has student approval they will begin working with Grand River Transit (GRT) to negotiate a contract.
In the announcement sent to students after the vote was tallied, CSI states that the vote only permits them to start negotiations, and that a number of surveys are still to come to be sure that students have a chance to give their input as to what they want. The pass is not final, and won’t go through if students vote against it in the future.
So far the plan proposes a $90 fee for all full-time students per semester, which will pay for a GRT bus pass as well as 18,000 more hours of service annually and 10 more buses to service the Cambridge, Doon and Waterloo campuses.
Since the pass is still in the works, nothing will be put into place until the fall 2013 semester, so students needing a bus pass this September should still plan on buying one.