Do you support keeping the U-Pass? Vote in the referendum on March 12–14

Recently, Durham Region Transit (DRT) presented the Ontario Tech Ancillary Fee Committee with its proposed U-Pass fee structure. The proposed structure would increase the cost of the U-Pass over the next three years, from $152.85 to $176.85 per semester (approximately 5 per cent each year).

OTSU President Rai Ali and VP Student Affairs, Zainab Hussain were present and asked to vote on the motion of whether or not to secure students’ transit discount for three years under the proposed structure.

Feeling that the decision should be put to the student body, the executives tabled the motion so that all Ontario Tech students could have their say and vote on whether or not they want to keep the U-Pass.

The voting period for the 2025 OTSU Elections is March 12 to 14, and students can cast their vote at otsu.ca/vote. In addition to voting on next year’s OTSU representatives, students will be asked to vote on the following referendum question:

The U-Pass is a discounted fare offered through Ontario Tech University’s partnership with Durham Region Transit (DRT). The U-Pass provides all full-time Ontario Tech students with access to unlimited travel on DRT as part of your mandatory ancillary fees. Full-time students cannot opt-out of the U-Pass fee.

In September 2025, the U-Pass agreement is up for renewal. The cost of the U-Pass will increase approximately 5 per cent each year for the next three years, from $152.85 to $176.85 per semester. If you vote not to have a U-Pass, all students will have to pay the regular adult fare. There is no guarantee that DRT will provide another U-Pass in the future.

PROPOSED FEE STRUCTURE:

• September 2025: $160.45 ($7.60 increase)
• September 2026: $168.45 ($8.00 increase)
• September 2027: $176.85 ($8.40 increase)

A ‘YES’ vote means that you support students continuing to pay the U-Pass fee with the new increase. If this referendum Passes, Ontario Tech students will continue to have unlimited use of Durham Region Transit.

A "NO" vote means you do not support students continuing to pay the U-Pass fee. If this referendum does not pass, students will be required to individually pay-per-use or purchase a monthly PRESTO Pass (currently $129.60/month or $1036.80/academic year) to use Durham Region Transit.

Question:

• YES (I am in favour of the fee increase in order to keep the U-Pass)
• NO (I am not in favour of the fee increase in order to keep the U-Pass)

QUICK FACTS

• The current cost of the U-Pass is $152.85 per semester, a discount of 70% compared to single adult fares.

• The alternative to the U-Pass is a monthly PRESTO pass which costs $129.60, more than triple the cost of the $38.21 per month students are paying on average now.

• The cost of the U-Pass is proposed to increase incrementally until 2029, to a rate of $194.90 per semester.

• During the 2023/2024 school year, approximately 62% of Ontario Tech students used their U-Pass.

• Ontario Tech Ridership for this time period was 576,635 trips.

• 36% of student riders take more than 15 trips per month.

FEE COMPARISON

BACKGROUND ON THE U-Pass

The U-Pass (Universal Transit Pass) has been in effect essentially since the inception of Ontario Tech University and was created alongside Trent University and Durham College to offer post-secondary students studying in the Region of Durham with significantly discounted transit rates.

The OTSU does not administer or control the cost of the U-Pass; all fares are set by Durham Region Transit and can be viewed at durhamregiontransit.com/fares.

During the Ancillary Fee Committee meeting, the university made it known that there are no plans to increase the available on-campus parking spaces if the U-Pass. On-campus parking ranges from $200 to $350 per semester. More info about parking can be found at ontariotechu.ca/campus-services/parking.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to your executives to get more information, please book an appointment at otsu.ca/appointments or email us at otsu@ontariotechu.ca.

💙The OTSU

* A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.