TransLink convinces Craigslist to pull U-Pass ads avoided, getting, offered, problem

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TransLink convinces Craigslist to pull U-Pass ads
Students say the transportation authority could have avoided the issue if it didn't force them to buy the transit passes


METRO VANCOUVER - TransLink has succeeded in getting Craigslist to pull ads for the resale of U-Passes, but students say the transportation authority could have prevented the problem if it didn't force them to buy the transit passes in the first place.

The U-Pass program, which is offered at five universities and colleges and will be expanded to three more this fall, is mandatory for all students. Even if students don't use transit, the cost of the pass is tacked on to their tuition.

That means students in Maple Ridge and Squamish, for instance, are paying into the program when they don't even have easy access to transit to travel to their classes. And at least one University of B.C. student is paying for her U-Pass while on an exchange program in Australia.

"Why can't it be voluntary?" said Ernie Payne, whose daughter in on an exchange program in Brisbane, Australia. "You're charging them all for something some of them won't use. There are benefits to the program, but make it optional."

Getting an exemption from the program is arduous and difficult, students say.

Lorna Allen, a part-time student at Capilano University and mother of three, pays about $400 a year for her U-Pass even though she lives close to the North Vancouver university and it takes her just seven minutes to drive there.

If she took a bus, she would have to transfer at the Phibbs Exchange and catch another bus, taking her more than an hour to get there.

"I could probably walk there faster," she said, adding: "Being a mom I don't have time to take a bus everywhere. It's not very cost-effective.

"For people on student loans, that's a lot of money. I'm not surprised people are selling them."

TransLink this week threatened to shut down the U-Pass program if students continued to sell their passes on Craigslist, saying it was costing them up to $15 million a year in lost or resold transit passes.

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On Thursday, Craigslist agreed to help "in addressing the illegal trade in U-Passes" and pulled the ads on their site, TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said. Earlier in the week, there had been 29 student transit passes for sale or wanted on the website.

Brad Aitchison, whose daughter Rebecca drives to Capilano University every day from Maple Ridge, said TransLink could solve the problem by making the U-Pass program voluntary.

"I've heard kids in the parking lot bitterly complaining that they're not using the darn thing and they still have to pay for it," he said.

"It's hard enough on a student budget; they're just trying to get their money back."

But TransLink argues reselling the passes is illegal and those caught with a pass belonging to someone else could face a fraud charge.

Hardie noted the U-Pass is intended to be a universal student card and as a result everybody has to buy into the program. The participating universities and colleges, he said, all held referendums among the student population asking whether they wanted the passes in place.

The new U-Pass contract, which will be uniform across all the post-secondary institutions, will have measures that allow the individual institutions to exempt a certain number of students from the program, particularly those who don't live in the Lower Mainland.

Benjamin Newsom, who coordinates the U-Pass program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University's student association, said his university has already exempted some students as it prepares to join the U-Pass program this fall. It is also working to ensure the U-Passes are getting to the right people, by having them pick them up in person rather than mailing them.

Those who withdraw from classes won't have access to the passes afterward, he said. The new cards —which will be distributed for the fall — will expire monthly, making them more difficult to sell. Kwantlen is working on a plan to have shuttles run between its campuses as another benefit to U-Pass holders.

"We think U-Pass is good idea; it helps a lot of people," Newsom said, not just in terms of cheaper transit but in changing behaviours by getting students out of their cars.

Newsom claims TransLink is inflating its numbers by insinuating that all students who lose their passes are committing fraud.

If TransLink is so worried about the security of the passes, he said, the new cards should have picture identification just as the old ones did.

But Hardie said TransLink decided not to go with photo ID to make the new U-Pass cards more similar to the regular monthly transit passes with anti-counterfeit chips and more mechanisms to allow the drivers to know which school they attend.

The U-Pass program is in place the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University, Langara College, Emily Carr University and Vancouver Community College, and will expand this fall to Douglas College, Kwantlen and BCIT.

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TransLink is losing as much as $15 million each year to lost, stolen and resold U-Passes. Now officials are threatening to cancel the program if the problems continue.