This comes along with other changes that UCSD Transportation Services will implement in July 2013 — most notably, a new user fee-based bus system in place of the current subsidized Bus Zone. The move is as seamless a transition as students can ask for: while commuters will no longer be able to ride MTS buses for free, they will still be able to access the same routes — and more — with partial subsidization by UCSD.
Students currently need only to flash the gold foil sticker on their ID cards to catch free rides on MTS routes such as the 201/202, 30 and 41, but UCSD can no longer fully pay for this. The percent of commuters to campus is up to 59 percent from 34 percent in 2001, amounting to roughly 31,000 students and staff according to the SustainUCSD website. UCSD Transportation Services accumulated a $2.1 million deficit in the past year alone. In spite of this, Transportation Services has been as accommodating as possible.
Starting this summer, the Bus Zone will be phased out for a new MTS Regional Pass, which UCSD will subsidize up to 50 percent for the first year. Students will gradually be eased out of the subsidy with a 15 percent decrease in help each year. The pass covers more areas than the current Bus Zone — students will gain access to local, urban and express bus and trolley routes throughout San Diego. Including trolley fare is one of the most positive aspects of these changes. Using public transit farther away from campus on the weekends can be costly, as service is more limited than during the weekdays. For example, going the short distance from downtown San Diego to Old Town on a Saturday requires multiple trolley transfers, which, at $2.50 for a one-way ticket, quickly adds up.
If UCSD administration has learned anything from recent years, it’s that students vehemently oppose any sort of student fee referendum. The proposed $8-per-quarter referendum to save CLICS along with the D-1 referendum which held a chance of costing undergraduates $495 per year were both shot down last year. The new transit pass comes in place of a student fee referendum that would, more likely than not, have been put to bed anyway. Transportation Services made its decision to offer a pass after comprehensive phone surveys in May 2012 of over 4,600 students, faculty and staff found that 65 percent of survey respondents preferred a user fee-based system over the possibility of additional student fees.
Another upside: due to overwhelming feedback from the survey, campus shuttles will remain free. This means that wheel-less students need not beg their parents for cars over Spring Break: It will still be more cost-effective to “dump the pump” for public transit.
