U of M urged to ease ‘financial disincentive’, subsidize staff bus passes

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This article was published 09/01/2024 (636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new report is calling on Manitoba’s largest university to subsidize bus passes for employees to encourage active transportation use and reduce traffic on campus.

The University of Manitoba’s 2023 commuter survey — a biennial project contracted to the Green Action Centre — recommends the post-secondary institute partner with Winnipeg Transit to offer discounted rides to faculty and staff members.

While a monthly adult Transit pass costs $111.65, academics pay close to half that — $57 a month — to park on the Fort Garry campus grounds and other workers pay $80.

“This creates a financial disincentive to take transit instead of driving and financially punishes those already choosing to take transit,” states an excerpt from the 77-page report released late last year.

Forty-one per cent of all community members travel to and from Fort Garry via Transit. A quarter of commuters drive only themselves, while 11 per cent carpool and five per cent either walk, run or bike.

The remainder work from home or did not disclose their exact commute method — accounting for 16 and three per cent of the student and staff population, respectively.

While noting the university has a strong public transit culture, especially among students, author Mel Marginet said the institution’s parking demands “are often stretched to the limit.”

“The cost to increase parking is very expensive — whether it’s surface parking or parking structures, and it’s not the most productive use of land, either,” said Marginet, a member of the sustainable transportation team at the Green Action Centre.

It is in the interest of an employer like U of M to promote public transit so it can more efficiently use financial resources, improve safety for community members and live up to its desire to be more sustainable, she added.

Asked to weigh-in on the prospect of a discounted Transit pass, half of all employees indicated they would be extremely or somewhat likely to participate in the program if it existed.

One-third of these respondents indicated they were uninterested and roughly 16 per cent selected “unsure.”

The poll attracted responses from 1,501 academics and staff members employed on the Fort Garry and Bannatyne campuses, representing 16 per cent of the overall workforce.

Faculty association president Orvie Dingwall said the union known as UMFA has long included reduced-fare bus passes in its bargaining proposals, without any success.

“A lot of our members and staff already take transit, and are very supportive of increased investment to ensure buses come on time and there is room to get on them,” Dingwall said in an email.

Winnipeg Transit partners with employers across the city to provide 20 different discounts, ranging from five to 100 per cent, on monthly passes.

A total of 83 organizations, including the Green Action Centre, took part in its EcoPass program in 2023. Each employer paid a portion of every staff member’s pass and in return, received a rebate from Transit.

These three-way partnerships challenge paid parking as a longstanding “default benefit,” said Laurie Fisher, manager of finance at the municipal transportation agency.

“The more awareness there is around climate change, the more people want to make green decisions.”

The fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns about potential transmission onboard buses and the rise of remote work, has taken a severe toll on program uptake and ridership at-large.

There were 92 companies participating in 2019, and close to 50,000 passes sold, bringing in $4.5 million for Transit. Preliminary 2023 figures have plummeted to 42 per cent of that pre-pandemic high: just under 21,000 such passes — the equivalent of $1.9 million in revenue — were purchased.

The host and producer of campus radio show Not Necessarily the Automobile supports all initiatives to lower fares because he said increasing ridership is critical to reduce emissions and improve real and perceived safety concerns on the bus.

It should be free for residents under 18 to ride the bus and no more than $2 for adults, said Adam Johnson, a self-described advocate for transit and climate action.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch; (U of M has) to pay for the space they are claiming for employees to park,” Johnson added.

U of M administration welcomed the findings of its latest commuter report in a statement.

Media relations director Eleanor Coopsammy said school leaders are considering all of its recommendations “to support sustainable travel.”

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca