ASU Parking and Transit Services implemented changes to the terms of the U-Pass and educational programs this academic year to increase their ease of operations and ensure students are properly using public transit rather than partaking in fare evasion.
ASU students no longer have the option to pay for a single-semester U-Pass, a card that allows students to ride unlimited bus and Light Rail rides through Valley Metro. ASU Parking and Transit Services now charges a flat fee of $80 for a U-Pass activated throughout the entire academic year.
The changes to the program were put into place primarily to increase the ease of operations at their office for both their employees and ASU students, ASU Parking and Transit Services spokeswoman Patrice Bettison-Clark said
“From an operational standpoint, it’s easier for us to have students pay $80,” Bettison-Clark said. “For a refund, they can come in before Dec. 15 versus trying to manage who has (a U-Pass) for $40 and who is going to need them again. We save those time and resources looking for people who need to renew and getting them to renew.”
ASU Parking and Transit Services is working with students who do not want to purchase a U-Pass for the entire academic year.
“I was mad, but they told me you can go in December and get a $40 refund for the spring semester if you really don’t want it for spring,” journalism student Amy Fleishans said.
Bettison-Clark dispelled rumors that a renewal glitch in early 2010 was the reason for the change in price. Thousands of students were rumored to be using expired, yet activated, passes during the Spring 2010 semester, but Bettison-Clark said the City of Phoenix only failed to deactivate about 200 U-Passes.
“The inaccuracy that was reported last year was that students had been illegally riding the Light Rail for a month, which was not true because we asked the City of Phoenix to deactivate the passes,” Bettison-Clark said.
The renewal glitch resulted in ASU granting free light rail rides to these few hundred students.
“One slipped through the crack and someone abused it,” Bettison-Clark said.
ASU was charged for a Light Rail ride every time these U-Pass holders tapped their expired, yet activated, card on an orange validation target. Though students were technically not guilty of fare evasion since Valley Metro was being paid for the rides by ASU, the school was being charged $1.29 per ride for students who never renewed their expired U-Passes.
“All (the students) do is pay an upfront cost (to ASU), not the upfront cost of all your trips,” Valley Metro spokeswoman Hillary Foose said. “ASU gets a charge for every time you validate or tap … (The school) helps subsidize the cost a lot.”
Foose said there is no data available to show the number of students that ride the Light Rail illegally on a regular basis due to failing to validate their U-Pass, but she noted the importance of tapping the card on the orange validation target for each light rail ride they take.
“You should tap or validate every time you get on board whether it’s two times or 20 times a day,” Foose said.
In order to ensure students were properly using public transit and validating their U-Passes, ASU Parking and Transit Services implemented the Student Transit Ambassador program. The program ran Monday through Thursday for the first two weeks of school and consisted of experienced Light Rail riders aiding fellow students at three light rail stops along ASU campuses in exchange for community service hours.
“This is part of our educational efforts to help students understand how to use their U-Passes and promote transit safety in general,” Bettison-Clark said.
The U-Pass was introduced in 2005 and was free to all ASU students until the Fall 2009 semester when the school began charging $40 a semester for the card due to a 40 percent increase in Valley Metro fares.
Contact the reporter at dachave2@asu.edu
