The ASU student U-Pass price increased by $50 to $200 for the 2013-2014 school year to help offset Valley Metro‘s fare increases in March.
The passes, which offer ASU students subsidized, unlimited use on Valley Metro Bus and Valley Metro Rail services, were originally free between 2005-2009, according to ASU. The school then began having students pay part of the fare increases: $80 for 2009-2010 and $150 for the past two school years. The price of an ASU Employee Platinum Pass remains the same at $390 for a local pass and $520 for an express pass.
When Valley Metro implemented the latest fare price increase, a standard all-Day local bus or light rail fare increased from $3.50 to $4.00 with the reduced fare price rising to meet half of the standard fare.
Aaron Bryant, Marketing Communications Manager for ASU Business and Finance Communications, said since the last U-Pass price increase, Valley Metro had raised its prices three times and the new U-Pass price was needed to offset the cost.
But despite the price increase from the past two school years, Bryant said the U-Pass is cheaper than buying the non-subsidized Valley Metro pass for $104 a month, if used enough.
Students over the age of 18 would need to ride the light rail or bus more than 50 times over the course of the school year in order for the price of a U-Pass to be less than the cost of paying fares directly. With last year’s U-Pass price, students would need to use transit services more than 43 times in a school year to get their money’s worth.
A Downtown campus student who has a class twice a week in Tempe, for example, would still benefit from purchasing the U-Pass. ASU’s fall 2013 semester lasts for 16 weeks, including a week for finals, meaning that students would save about $28 a semester by purchasing a U-Pass instead of paying fares directly, provided they only take the light rail to class.
Bryant said U-Pass sales dropped when the previous price increases hit, but it is too early to determine how many students are purchasing a U-Pass for the 2013 school year because they look at the sales rate for the entire year. Bryant added that sales so far have met the anticipated rate, but declined to offer a concrete number.
ASU students listed convenience and relative cost as reasons to spend the extra money.
Nursing senior Sabrina Jeffery said she uses public transportation twice a week and would buy a U-Pass if she did not have access to free transportation through her employment.
“I would hate to buy it,” Jeffery said. “But I probably would because it’s cheaper than buying parking here.”
Nursing senior Brittany Edgar said that although she used a U-Pass last year, she considered not purchasing one this year.
“I wasn’t going to, but it would cost more money to drive,” Edgar said. “So it was still cheaper but it was definitely more expensive than last year.”
Nutrition freshman Summer Johnson said she plans to ride the light rail every day during the semester to get her money’s worth.
“It’s right here and goes to everywhere I need to,” Johnson said. “It’s faster than the shuttle, I think, and it comes more often than the shuttle.”
Contact the reporter at travis.arbon@asu.edu
