Every semester, students line up to buy the U-Pass. Instead of having to buy a new bus pass every month, students have been able to purchase the U-Pass for a one time fee of $125. Although, starting Spring semester, there will be a $25 increase in the U-Pass price, bringing the U-Pass to $150.
Available at the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), all 1400 stickers were sold out for the fall semester, and for the Spring 2011 semester, they sold 1239 tickets.
The U-Pass has been available for $125, which is a $300 value. TheBus Company received instructions from the city to increase the price to $150. The last price increase happened Fall 2010 with another $25 jump from $100 to the current $125.
Students who buy and know about the U-Pass believe that the one time fee of either $125 or $150 is a better deal than $60 per month for a monthly bus pass.
“I mean, it’s fair…$50 is not bad at all,” said Aprilei Ramirez, 21, pre-dental hygiene. Ramirez also used to take the bus. “…(Students) save a lot with just a one time pay.”
However, each person that purchases the U-Pass causes TheBus Company to lose money, because of the one time pay.
“I believe the increase may help to offset the cost for TheBus Company,” Alfie Gonzales, OSA assistant coordinator and Board of Student Activities student advisor said.
Gonzales also believes that the increase won’t affect the sales of the U-Pass, and students will still be saving money even though there is the price increase.
Though OSA usually sells out of their U-PASSes every semester, not all students are happy about the raise.
“I don’t really like it,” Jerffery Cadiz, 19, liberal arts major said. “I know it’s cheap, but (if you) think about how expensive books and tuition are, it’s beneficial for it (U-PASS) to be cheaper.”
Like the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa including the bus fee into tuition, KCC would go through a long process to implement this.
The student congress, or the Associated Students of Kapi‘olani Community College (ASKCC) would be the group that would take on the responsibility of possibility adding the fee into tuition.
If KCC had enough students that disagreed with the increase, ASKCC would have to check with the student population to see if they would like to add a tuition fee, explained Gonzales.
“An idea (bus pass fee) that may not be too popular due to the recent approval to raise the price of tuition,” Gonzales wrote in an e-mail.
The process would then include meetings with the KCC U-PASS group and TheBus company to discuss details and decide on an amount. Not only will KCC have to work with TheBus and get students’ input on campus, but also hold public hearings discussing the possibility of implementing the fee.
The process continues on with ASKCC drafting a proposition to the Board of Regents (BOR), only if the KCC task force sees a push toward including the fee in tuition. The BOR would need to vote to approve the fees.
“It’s a good deal (U-PASS increase),” Ramirez said.