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PTS initiates U-Pass fee; Continues to subsidize majority of the cost to students
Arizona State University Parking and Transit Services announced today it will begin charging students for the ASU U-Pass. Valid for unlimited rides on the METRO light rail and all Valley Metro bus routes, the Student U-Pass is $40 per semester or $80 for the academic year not including summer sessions. 2009-2010 U-Passes are valid July 1, 2009 – May 15, 2010. Students can pay $80 for the full academic year or $40 in the fall and spring semesters. Beginning summer 2010, summer session U-Passes, good for both summer sessions, will sell for an additional $25.
Valley Metro will implement a 40 percent fare increase effective July 1. Consequently, the cost of the U-Pass program to PTS also increases. In charging $40 per semester, PTS continues to subsidize the majority of the cost to students for the transit pass. While PTS pays for each U-Pass boarding, students who purchase U-Passes pay the fixed $40 and can then ride METRO light rail or Valley Metro buses an unlimited number of times throughout the semester.
“Parking and Transit Services is pleased that we have been able to provide this valuable service to our community members,” PTS director Theresa Fletcher says. “We are not aware of any other university comparable in size to ASU that has been able to financially sustain a free transit pass program for their students and employees for as long as we have. We are proud that the program’s goals of offering multi-modal transit options to the ASU community were met.”
To assist students who are required to attend classes at the Tempe and Downtown Phoenix campuses, PTS is enhancing its free West-Tempe intercampus shuttle service. Beginning fall 2009, all buses on the West-Tempe intercampus shuttle route will make a stop at the Downtown Phoenix campus.
The U-Pass program was introduced as a pilot program in the fall of 2005. In its inaugural year, the U-Pass program cost PTS $600,000. The program’s expenses increased in each of the following years, with PTS seeing a price tag of $1.3 million in 2007-08. For the first three years, PTS paid for the program in full, without any contributions from ASU students or employees. As a self-funded auxiliary department of ASU, PTS does not receive any tuition, student fees or state money to support its operational costs. In July 2008, PTS began charging employees $10 per pay period for a local U-Pass ($15 per pay period for an express transit pass). PTS projects the U-Pass program costs for 2008-09 to reach between $1.5 million - $1.8 million.
PTS and university officials carefully examined a number of options with respect to the administration of the U-Pass program for the upcoming school year. One option was to discontinue the U-Pass subsidy altogether. Additional proposals included implementing a mandatory student transit fee aimed at $50 per academic year, or requiring a lower mandatory student fee with the option to purchase the U-Pass at a significantly higher rate per semester. After thorough consideration, PTS is pleased to provide students the lowest cost alternative in adopting the $40 per semester charge for an ASU U-Pass.
Student U-Passes will be available for students enrolled in Summer Session II to purchase at any ASU campus permit sales office beginning June 29. Students who are not enrolled in classes until the fall 2009 semester may purchase their U-Pass beginning Aug. 10.
View Student Frequently Asked Questions, including including eligibility requirements for purchasing a Student U-Pass, payment options and refund policy.
