The United Student Government (USG) voted unanimously to consider a proposal by the Commuter Club to combine forces with USG and lobby for the U-Pass system, which gives students free bus fare passes.
The proposal will go to the Student Concerns Committee for further review where it will receive a final vote.
Last year, USG spearheaded an attempt to create the U-Pass system which failed due to lack of participation, with only 12 percent of the student body voting in a student poll.
The objective of the Commuter Club’s proposal is to market the idea of the U-Pass as a positive thing for students, whether they are commuters or residents.
“A lot of [students] don’t see the versatility in a program like this,” Samantha Einloth, the Vice President of the Commuter Club, said during the proposal presentation.
According to USG President Ian Sulkowski, two-thirds of the student population has to vote and the majority of that two-thirds must vote in favor of to the U-Pass in order to garner the administration’s support. The U-Pass would add an estimated cost of $100 to $200 to every student’s tuition, similar to the new technology fee.
Evan Schall, USG Treasurer, was part of the original USG project in support of the UPass.
“I think we have to start somewhere. If this is something we want to do, delaying it isn’t going to do any good,” Schall said during the legislative body meeting on Monday, before moving to pass the U-Pass proposal.
Part of the new proposal includes holding open forums on the free bus fare program as well as advertising the U-Pass through multiple Point Park medias and teaming up with the Residence Hall Association and Office of Campus Life.
“I think the biggest problem last year was not enough people knew about it,” Einloth said in an interview after the meeting.
The junior public administration major said resident students might not realize how beneficial free bus fare could be for them. Whether it means being able to get jobs outside of Downtown or taking the bus to a doctor’s appointment, she said U-Passes could benefit everyone.
“There’s a lot of stuff in the city to do if you take the buses,” Einloth said.
Sulkowski said the Student Concerns Committee will be taking over the work in conjunction with the Commuter Club, a commitment that will take up most of their time.
He also said that taking on the U-Pass issue will not have an “overnight “ solution and could take a year or more, clogging up much of the committees’ time and not leaving them the resources to pursue other student issues.
“This is a pretty massive undertaking,” Sulkowski said.
According to Sulkowski, a hassle-free way to travel back and forth from school is a substantial issue.
“To me, it’s a no brainer that this is something that students would be able to get behind,” Sulkowski said in a phone interview Monday night. “It’s just a matter of advertising it and making it come about in a concrete way.”
Director of Commuter Affairs Sarah George estimated that 75 percent of the student body commutes, which adds up to a lot of potential support for the U-Pass.
According to George, the reason the U-Pass initiative flopped last year was not lack of effort by USG, but rather lack of knowledge of the student body, something that might be remedied by the two organizations coming together.
“I think that with the two groups joining forces there’s a better chance—I’m still not sure how likely it is—but there’s a better chance having the two groups working together to spread the word and educate,” George said in her office on Monday afternoon.
George said she constantly hears commuters talking about parking or a better bus pass system, but the process of getting there is not going to be easy. She agreed with Sulkowski that it could take a year of marketing the idea to students and talking with the Port Authority of Allegheny County to get everything to come to fruition.
“If it happens, it would be positive,” George said.
