The special election for the Student Transportation Fee referendum begins today. From Jan. 27 to Jan. 31, students can vote for or against the continuation and expansion of UC San Diego’s U-Pass program, which provides students free access to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.  In order to be considered a valid vote, a minimum of 20% of eligible students must vote on the ballot— a number the Associated Student Council currently predicts to be over 7,000 voters. Should the measure reach that threshold, a simple majority vote would then determine the outcome.

Tapia Jr.-Urbierta explained how spreading the word about the referendum is key to its viability. Newly-appointed A.S. elections manager, Eduardo Tapia Jr.-Urbieta, explained data on student voter turnout in recent elections. 

According to Tapia Jr.-Urbieta, A.S. hasn’t reached more than 12–13% voter turnout since the pandemic. However, student participation per election has been steadily increasing since students have returned to campus, a trend that may restore pre-pandemic student voter turnout. 

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Transportation and Activation Joshua Kavanagh said the numbers were difficult to predict, but the administration is “hoping 25% or better is within reach.”

Tapia Jr-Urbieta described the process of publicizing the referendum as “a very collaborative effort.” Colleges are hosting promotional events, transit services around campus feature fliers and signs, emails offer university-wide reminders, and students are passing on the news by word-of-mouth. 

“I think it’s the best when students are out there educated by their peers,” Tapia Jr-Urbieta said. 

However, the extent to which students are actually conferring with one another is debatable. Senior Gaelila Mckaughan spoke to her peers’ levels of awareness. 

“I cannot say that I can represent the general UCSD population, but as far as my social circles are, I don’t think a lot of people are talking about it,” Mckaughan said. 

Dalena Pham, a former undergrad and first-year graduate student, shared that she saw many reminders from other students on social media. 

“I might just be around people that are more aware, and so it’s like a bubble,” Pham explained. “But I think a majority of people at least know what’s going on.”

Third-year Remy Dupar said that his roommates knew of the referendum because they rely on the U-Pass to commute to school. However, he has no idea if students living on campus know or care. Dupar mentioned that he was not familiar with details of the ballot measure, having only briefly learned about it at a promotional event. 

“I wanted one of those free key chains when all the buses had lined up on Library Walk, so some guy talked to me for five minutes,” Dupar said. “I’m probably a bad voter; I‘m not staying up to date with these things.”

Given the significance of the U-Pass to many UCSD students, Mckaughan expressed that she wished there had been more publicity about the stakes of the vote. She was surprised that she saw no announcements on Canvas or TritonLink. None of her professors discussed the referendum in her classes either — even in her class on public policy. 

“I think that there should be way bigger signs because, I mean, the posters that they have up are like, poster for a concert, poster for a club meeting, oh, poster for this referendum that’s going to change the way that you transport yourself for the next 10 years,” Mckaughan said. 

A.S. Council views voter education and participation as the two most important factors for the election, fearing that, without sufficient information, students might vote against the referendum without understanding it. 

Tapia Jr-Urbieta used the example of a few college-specific fee referendums that failed to pass during last spring’s general election. Both Earl Warren College and Revelle College held minorly-publicized referendums last spring to increase their student activity fees by a few dollars. The college councils have stated they will use these funds to host more events, increase financial aid offerings, and expand student services. While he reported that these proposals met the minimum voter threshold, they both failed to pass. 

“At least for this year’s referendum, all campus partners … are working really hard to make sure students are aware of what this fee is all about so that students can go out and be able to provide an informed vote, or else they might just vote ‘no’ because they don’t know what the fee is trying to do,” Tapia Jr-Urbieta said. 

Mckaughan, Pham, and Dupar all voiced their beliefs in the necessity of the U-Pass. Students who rely heavily on the U-Pass for transit save significant sums of money each year through UCSD’s collaboration with MTS. 

Kavanagh personally calculated that the typical price of a U-Pass for non-UCSD students is around $182.00 per month, whereas the cost of fees in student tuition averages out to roughly $18.75 per month. According to the SDMTS website, a standard Regional Month Adult Pass costs $72 per month, although additional lines such as the COASTER require a different pass.

“I think that the cost of going to the school [without the U-Pass] would be even more expensive, would I have to pay that out of pocket,” Mckaughan said. “It would probably affect the classes I take, the extracurriculars that I’m a part of, and the amount of time that I’m able to be on campus if that were not available to me. So, it’s very important.”

The relevance of the U-Pass is not limited to those who use the buses to commute to campus; it also helps alleviate the competitive demand for campus parking spaces. 

Mckaughan spoke to this issue: “UCSD has awful parking allowances, like there’s no parking on campus — I mean, I work mornings, so I’m on campus at 8 or 9 a.m., and there’s no parking. That’s insane.”

Pham also pointed out the importance of transit in emergency situations when students might have difficulty making it to campus by car. She cited the recent fire on Gilman Drive as one such situation; an official TritonAlert message encouraged students heading to campus via car after the all-clear to either reroute due to heavy traffic or opt for the Blue Line instead. 

Dupar emphasized the appeal of adding the premium routes such as the COASTER and FLEX lines to the existing U-Pass package. However, Dupar had not heard of these potential expansions to the U-Pass’s infrastructure until his interview with The UCSD Guardian. 

“I feel like, when people talk about this referendum or the voting, I have not heard anyone mention those benefits. Usually, it’s the negative of, ‘Oh, if it doesn’t get passed, U-Pass is going away,’” he explained. 

By contrast, Mckaughan cared less about the content of the advertisements and more about ensuring students understand how crucial their vote is. “I don’t think it’s an issue of whether students are interested in or want [the U-Pass] because I think that most students do,” Mckaughan said. “I think it’s just students don’t realize how much is on the line if they don’t vote.”

Both Pham and Dupar referred to the voter turnout at UCSD for the 2024 presidential election when assessing the likelihood of the referendum reaching the minimum threshold.

“The lines were wrapping around the corner, like people were really engaged. So it seems like people might say that [UCSD students are] apathetic, but I feel like, when it counts, people show up,” Pham said. “That could be more like an optimistic outlook, but I’d like to think people are engaged and will do something.”

Dupar, however, took the opposite stance on predicting voter turnout: “If you were to compare to the presidential election, for example, the voter turnout isn’t that much, even if it’s something that really matters. There’s just a lot of people who do not care, or a lot of people who do care, but they’re too lazy to vote.”

A measure as significant as renewing or repealing the U-Pass is a major factor in how many students navigate university life and should reflect the most accurate opinions of the student body as possible. On this, the students, A.S. Council, and the administration all agree. Students will feel the fallout of the vote regardless of the result, which makes voting essential.

“People might regret what happens if they don’t show up or don’t vote,” Pham warned. “And then they have to deal with the consequences. And it’s like, well, you can’t take back your vote. You can’t go back in time and change it. And so, just do it now.”