[admin]

Via The Sil: After months of negotiation with the HSR, the McMaster Students Union has reached an agreement with the transit organization to offer two options for service improvements to McMaster students.

With student electoral support, McMaster’s student bus pass could include extended service for Route 51-University, a 12-month bus pass, or both.

Current McMaster bus passes are included in student fees and cost each student $126.50—equivalent to 145 per cent of the price of a monthly adult pass.

Two options will be voted on by students pending SRA approval, which would include additional costs voted into effect.



A motion will be brought before the SRA to add the issue as a referendum during the MSU presidential election in January. Whatever changes are voted in by students will be implemented in Sept. 2014.

One option is enhanced service on Route 51-University. For an extra cost of $6.50 per student, the 51 will increase its frequency between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to every 10 minutes, rather than the current 15. Also included in this option is increased service between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Presently, the last 51-University of the night runs through campus around 11p.m. Route 51-University would be the first bus in Hamilton to run until 3 a.m.

The other option is a 12-month bus pass. For an additional $6.00 per student the student bus pass would be extended from an 8-month to a full-year pass.

Increased service of the 51-University will cost approximately $240,000. McMaster student fees will pay for $140,000 and the HSR will cover the other $100,000.

Once the issue comes to referendum, McMaster students will vote for one of several options moving forward.

Students can vote to keep the current eight-month pass at 145 per cent of the adult monthly rate, pay $6.50 more, per student for enhanced 51-University service, pay $6.00 more for a 12-month pass, or vote to adopt both changes and incur an extra cost of $12.50 per student. They may also vote to reject all agreements and have no bus pass in Sept. 2014.

Read more on The Sil.

[Afzal]

People who'll leave Hamilton for the summer break, which is the majority, shouldn't pay for those 4 months.

Also, why the fuck is The Sil writing it as 145% of the monthly bus pass? They should write it as 11.6% of the price of 8 monthly bus passes. Compare it to something useful instead of trying to make it sound like it's expensive, which it is far from.

The 10-minute stuff might actually be useful though, late night service is definitely not of much use to the majority of students.

[eullwm]

10 minute service is pointless. Optimizing the current schedule would do more good than throwing money at the problem.

Some form of late-night service is nice for those who need to stay late on campus (i.e. capstones) and are limited by the system stopping around 1:45am. And for drunks.

Full-year pass is nice for those who stay in the city over the summer, but not so much for anybody else. Less so for those graduating and not getting a full-time job in Hamilton. EDIT: And for Hamilton residents.

So basically, all options are shit other than keeping the current pass. But it'll pass because the SRA/MSU keeners (read: losers) will it so.

[Entropy]

Extended hours are fine and justifiable, but I find it astonishing that people were actually (presumably) clamouring for increased 51 frequency. It's already one of the most frequent routes in Hamilton, and increasing its frequency will only encourage people to wait for it instead of taking the equivalent time to walk down to Emerson and Whitney.

On the other hand, a side effect of increased 51 service could be less people on the 5C to Meadowlands I take home, but this issue would be better-addressed by increasing the 5C frequency directly rather than the 51.

The 12-month pass sounds fine, but only because I'm a Hamilton resident myself. I could see why people wouldn't want to pay $6 for something they'll never use, but it would benefit a lot of students even if it's not a majority. I'm sure there are many worse ways to waste your $6/year that the MSU already has us paying. To put things into perspective, you're throwing away about $15 per lecture hour you skip (assuming 3 lecture hours a week for 39 weeks at $200/unit) so it's really not so bad.

The one thing that caught my eye was this:

Originally Posted by The Sil

They may also vote to reject all agreements and have no bus pass in Sept. 2014.

This is some kind of typo, right? Like, they mean "no increased bus pass? Or is it really suggesting that if both motions are rejected there won't be a bus pass at all in 2014?

[TheCrucible]

Originally Posted by Entropy

This is some kind of typo, right? Like, they mean "no increased bus pass? Or is it really suggesting that if both motions are rejected there won't be a bus pass at all in 2014?

The referendum will have a no bus pass option in addition to all the other proposed options. If the majority of people vote for this option, the MSU will scrap the HSR bus pass.

[kitty1]

Originally Posted by TheCrucible

The referendum will have a no bus pass option in addition to all the other proposed options. If the majority of people vote for this option, the MSU will scrap the HSR bus pass.

what do you mean they will scrap the HSR buss pass? people won't be able to use it at all in the coming year if they don't choose one of the other options?

[kitty1]

as a hamilton resident the 12 month bus pass sounds amazing! but as someone who is graduating this year, this sucks :(

[TheCrucible]

Originally Posted by kitty1

what do you mean they will scrap the HSR buss pass? people won't be able to use it at all in the coming year if they don't choose one of the other options?

Yep. If the majority vote is for the "no" option, then the MSU will not renew the contract with HSR and students will not have a bus pass for the 2014-2015 school year.

[qwerty91]

Originally Posted by TheCrucible

Yep. If the majority vote is for the "no" option, then the MSU will not renew the contract with HSR and students will not have a bus pass for the 2014-2015 school year.

hahahahaahaha
You realize this will be far worse off for HSR than it would be for students right? HSR would have to cut significant routes (not just hours), cut hours for all drivers, and provide minimal service across all hamilton...or eat millions from taxes.

Right now its costing very little to support mcmaster students since we are for the most part corner in one small part of hamilton and are also on major routes (main and king) which have to have fairly good service into downtown and dundas anyways. If you actually look at their public finances you will laugh at how little goes to mac. Most of the cost is spreading out a bus system across hamilton into areas that dont get much revenue.

MSU undergrads contribute almost 10% (closer to 9%) of the entire HSR operating budget (not just revenue...and almost all bus systems borrow from taxes)

[RyanC]

HSR only gains from this deal in my opinion. Except possibly the 12 month thing. Even then...

[Leeoku]

They have already addressed the main issue which is the morning 830 rush. I think most people will just opt for the full year

[eullwm]

Originally Posted by TheCrucible

Yep. If the majority vote is for the "no" option, then the MSU will not renew the contract with HSR and students will not have a bus pass for the 2014-2015 school year.

So, students either accept one or both of the shitty options, or there's no bus pass at all next year? No referendum to keep the pass for 8 months? Or are you honestly just that bad at explaining?

If the former, then the MSU is even more worthless and irrelevant than previously thought of before. "Give us upgrades or give us nothing!!111" Probably the best negotiating tactic that could be used, right?

[TheCrucible]

Originally Posted by eullwm

So, students either accept one or both of the shitty options, or there's no bus pass at all next year? No referendum to keep the pass for 8 months? Or are you honestly just that bad at explaining?

If the former, then the MSU is even more worthless and irrelevant than previously thought of before. "Give us upgrades or give us nothing!!111" Probably the best negotiating tactic that could be used, right?

Er...If you read the opening post carefully, you would know that there are multiple options in the referendum:

1) Keep the 8-month bus pass as it is
2) Keep the 8-month bus pass, plus add on enhanced 51-University service
3) Have a 12-month bus pass
4) Have a 12-month bus pass, with the add-on of enhanced 51-University service
5) No bus pass.

If more than 50% of the votes are in favour of removing the bus pass, then the MSU will scrap the bus pass. If not, the MSU will pursue the "yes" option with the highest number of votes (8-month, 8-month + enhanced, 12-month, or 12-month + enhanced). Hope this was clearer.

P.S. Please watch how your posts are coming across. If you have a problem with the MSU, come out to the next SRA meeting this Sunday @ 12 p.m. in Gilmour Hall 111 and voice your concerns. Alternatively, you can send your SRA representatives an email ([email protected] ca), and they would be happy to meet with you in person to discuss your concerns.

[MrPlinkett]

If more than 50% of the votes are in favour of removing the bus pass, then the MSU will scrap the bus pass. If not, the MSU will pursue the "yes" option with the highest number of votes (8-month, 8-month + enhanced, 12-month, or 12-month + enhanced). Hope this was clearer.

Just how much do we pay for our buss passes right now?

[kitty1]

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Just how much do we pay for our buss passes right now?

we pay ~$126 right now. the additional add ons are $6 and/or $6.50. in my opinion that's not a bad deal at all. $12 isn't going to hurt anybody, if anything it'll benefit most if not all.