I have few questions about commuting.

Q1: What exactly is the "Go Bus Student Id"? Do you NEED it in order to buy a monthly pass/tickets, and to travel? If so, how do I apply for one?

Q2: Are us, the students, eligible to buy a student monthly pass (costs around $231, I think), and is buying one the most economically efficient method of commuting?

Q3: Are cons of commuting hyped, or do they stand true (I know it's relative to the person/the program they are in; I am in Engineering)?

Thanks in advance!

1-2) I'm not 100% sure but I think those are phasing/phased out with the presto card. A card to load money on you tap on when you get on go bus and tap again when you get off and it calculates where you went and cost. Also includes discounts the more you use it
3) Depends on the labs and stuff you have. Labs can start as early as 830 and engineering 1p03 (or econ 1bb3 if you are taking night section) night courses end at 9pm. It depends on where you live and stuff but I know many people who do very well and commute like 45 minutes away everyday

1. Just show your student card, should be fine.
2. Yes, you can buy a student pass, I think presto might be easier, it might come out to roughly the same as the student pass (or less) but you don't have to wait in line to buy a monthly pass and all that, just set presto card to auto refill and you're set.
3. There are pros and cons to commuting, and pros and cons to living on/near campus. Biggest pro is it's cheaper. You will get used to it and it won't seem difficult after a while.

what are the hyped cons?
the only one i c is having to stay in the library for 4 hours when your last class is at 6pm

The only other con I can think of is getting up so much earlier to go to a class with travel and arriving early to make sure your bus didn't leave without you. Another could be waiting conditions and weather

You waste a LOT of time on commuting that could be better spent. People say they'll get readings or homework done on the bus or train, but that doesn't happen for many people.

Get presto, don't even look into monthly passes or any of that; once you reach the monthly pass amount using your presto, you get discounted accordingly anyways (bus rides become free for that month I believe).

Originally Posted by MehMehMeh

I have few questions about commuting.

Q1: What exactly is the "Go Bus Student Id"? Do you NEED it in order to buy a monthly pass/tickets, and to travel? If so, how do I apply for one?

Q2: Are us, the students, eligible to buy a student monthly pass (costs around $231, I think), and is buying one the most economically efficient method of commuting?

Q3: Are cons of commuting hyped, or do they stand true (I know it's relative to the person/the program they are in; I am in Engineering)?

Thanks in advance!

1) It's just your student card that shows you are an enrolled student at a university, but in all honesty, GO transit ticket distributors rarely ever ask for it. Just tell them where you have to go when buying your monthly pass and they'll deduct the price accordingly. Still, bring your ID with you always.

2) The monthly pass is far, far, far better than buying a Presto card if you're a regular commuter (i.e 3-5 days a week, atleast). With Presto, money is loaded onto the card and then deducted everytime you tap ont o a bus. This essentially limits your travel to between your home station, and school. If you're the sort of person who likes to go other places like Toronto, or goes back and forth between stations a lot, the Presto is not for you. Presto was introduced because the 10-ride passes are now no longer in circulation.

In first and second year, I can't count how many times I have gone back and forth between cities. Hamilton to Toronto, Mississauga to Toronto, Missisauga to Hamilton and back again. The monthly pass is cheaper in that sense because the more you use it, the more economical it is.

3) You're right in both senses. The cons of commuting are hyped but they are also certainly relative to the person+program. I know people in the Humanities who can't handle commuting, I know people in Engineering and Life Sciences who do it all the time no problem.

The long term financial benefits of commuting far outweigh anything, in my opinion.

Commuting will teach you time management. You'll learn how to best use your time on the bus (study, sleep, catch up on readings, etc) and you'll learn how to best manage your time elsewhere because you have to sometimes schedule your day around the GO.

You may not like it at first. But you will get used to it. Wtih regards to time management, don't listen to anyone who says it's a farce. But don't listen to those who say it's always possible, either. This is something you have to figure out for yourself.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

2) The monthly pass is far, far, far better than buying a Presto card if you're a regular commuter (i.e 3-5 days a week, atleast). With Presto, money is loaded onto the card and then deducted everytime you tap ont o a bus. This essentially limits your travel to between your home station, and school. If you're the sort of person who likes to go other places like Toronto, or goes back and forth between stations a lot, the Presto is not for you. Presto was introduced because the 10-ride passes are now no longer in circulation.

In first and second year, I can't count how many times I have gone back and forth between cities. Hamilton to Toronto, Mississauga to Toronto, Missisauga to Hamilton and back again. The monthly pass is cheaper in that sense because the more you use it, the more economical it is.

This is completely false. First of all, Presto was introduced long before the cancellation of the 10-ride passes.
Regarding price, your monthly cost will end up being so much cheaper than with Presto. For example, if I were to purchase a monthly pass, it would cost me $143. With presto, I would pay $122/month...and it could be less if I take less than 40 trips.
If you go back and forth a lot, Presto's just as good for you as a monthly pass. After 40 rides on the same route, all your rides are free.

You are not limited to traveling between your home station and school. There is such an option, but it is not allowed on routes with buses involved, which the route to Mac has.
As long as you have money on your card, you can go wherever. The other nice thing is you always get the student discount (15%), even if you only go to a different station once.

I chose to live on residence because whats the point of going home late and then studying in the limited time you have since you gotta sleep earlier.

On res you can just study as soon as your done a class and have those extra hours of studying and sleep.

Then on the weekends you can go home and chill or study normally.

The pro is whatever transportation fees you pay, won't add up to the 5.5-7k res fee + 2.5-3K meal plan.

Thats about 8k-9k that you are saving, thats a whole years tuition

Originally Posted by Mac-10

I chose to live on residence because whats the point of going home late and then studying in the limited time you have since you gotta sleep earlier.

On res you can just study as soon as your done a class and have those extra hours of studying and sleep.

Then on the weekends you can go home and chill or study normally.

The pro is whatever transportation fees you pay, won't add up to the 5.5-7k res fee + 2.5-3K meal plan.

Thats about 8k-9k that you are saving, thats a whole years tuition

If money's that big of an issue just live off-campus. I spent $4800 total for rent, utilities and food for 12 months. Now, when you measure that against transportation costs and lost time (that you could have spent on a part-time job or studying)... it's really not that big of a difference.

i hear endless complaining from my friends who go to u of t/ryerson and have to commute ~45minutes

from what they tell me, i would do anything i could to avoid it, so i doubt its 'hyped' but like others have said, u get used to it

Originally Posted by pinkprincess

This is completely false. First of all, Presto was introduced long before the cancellation of the 10-ride passes.

How is it false? I spoke to GO transit myself. Presto was introduced with the intention of phasing out 10-rides.

Originally Posted by jitnikovi

i hear endless complaining from my friends who go to u of t/ryerson and have to commute ~45minutes

from what they tell me, i would do anything i could to avoid it, so i doubt its 'hyped' but like others have said, u get used to it

This reminded me of something else. The commutes to Ryerson and UofT are different from those to MAc and York because there are no direct buses to Ryerson or UofT. There's always a required transfer from Union, and it's irritating. Commutes to Mac are good in that you just get on the bus and that's it, unless you're stopping at Aldershot (but I don't know why you would, because the 47 buses always take you straight to campus).