[nfitz]

Wrong... at least for the TTC

http://www.ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Fare_information/Seniors_students_and_children/Post_Secondary_Students.jsp

Post secondary students get a $22 discount on their monthly pass

It's not mandatory though - students pay $93.50 a month - this is 6 times higher than what some of the U-Pass schemes cost. The idea with a mandatory pass, it that it requires all students to pay for it, whether they use it or not. A good deal perhaps at small-city suburban universities, where the majority simply walk to school, so the mandatory pass can be offered at a fraction of the regular cost..

One example is University of Waterloo's U-pass which costs only about $15 a month and is included with tuition - less than $13 a month as it's tax deductible as a transit pass. Even the occasional rider only has to use it 5 times a month to pay off. The fare is a bargain, and you can get a majority of students to vote to implement a mandatory pass.

In cities like Toronto, TTC has looked as such schemes, but the transit ridership of the large universities is much higher, making the proposed cost much higher, and I believed when this has gone to referendum it's lost every time.

 

[k10ery]

It's a "good idea" to tax poor students who don't want transit to pay for it??? I think a better reason is that parking is very hard to come by at a lot of universities, so people need to coaxed onto the bus.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: "After Andre Geim shared the Nobel Prize in Physics last year, administrators at the University of Manchester, in England, asked what would entice him to stay. A parking space near his building was Mr. Geim's sole request. He got it."

 

[RocketAppliances]

It's not mandatory though - students pay $93.50 a month - this is 6 times higher than what some of the U-Pass schemes cost. The idea with a mandatory pass, it that it requires all students to pay for it, whether they use it or not. A good deal perhaps at small-city suburban universities, where the majority simply walk to school, so the mandatory pass can be offered at a fraction of the regular cost..

One example is University of Waterloo's U-pass which costs only about $15 a month and is included with tuition - less than $13 a month as it's tax deductible as a transit pass. Even the occasional rider only has to use it 5 times a month to pay off. The fare is a bargain, and you can get a majority of students to vote to implement a mandatory pass.

In cities like Toronto, TTC has looked as such schemes, but the transit ridership of the large universities is much higher, making the proposed cost much higher, and I believed when this has gone to referendum it's lost every time.

Here is the original question:

Out of curiosity, since in Waterloo our student ID cards double as bus passes, do York and UofT students get anything similar with TTC?

I think the post-secondary pass is "similar" enough to the UPASS. Yeah you pay 6 times more, but you get what you pay for.

The TTC knows the majority of students are already captive riders (maybe not York but definitely the downtown post-secondary) so they held out for a number of years before even offering a discount. Meanwhile in K-W, Grand River Transit relies on the Universities to subsidize their system through the mandatory fare and inflate their ridership numbers - if you have to pay for it, you might as well ride it.

Oh and the TTC post-secondary card applies to other colleges and universities (including Waterloo and Laurier) so if you're in TO working for the summer you still get a discount.

Not mandatory, huge system, post-secondary discounts for students outside of the GTA. Better than a UPASS?

 

[nfitz]

I think the post-secondary pass is "similar" enough to the UPASS. Yeah you pay 6 times more, but you get what you pay for.

I don't see much similarity at all. One is simply the extension of the existing student fare rate to university/college students, who then have to buy a monthly pass, and get TTC identification, with optional participation in a VIP (Volume Incentive Program) purchase program. The other is a 1-year pass (or a 4-month pass) at a significantly discounted rate, that is included with your tuition, doesn't require the purchase of monthly passes, and in many cases, only required the presentation of your student identification card.

The TTC has discussed a U-pass scheme in the past - and were using a $60 per month rate ($240 per semester), when they offered it to George Brown in 2007 and also to University of Toronto Scarborough in 2008

 

[gweed123]

Ottawa U and Carleton both have U-Pass deals with OC Transpo. It's mandatory for every student, and it's included in tuition fees (or paid at the same time as tuition, to be more specific).

It sucks for those who live on campus, but I know a lot of people who live off-campus who really like having it. It's always a catch-22 with those type of things: no matter what, someone isn't going to like it.

I remember when I was at Ryerson a U-Pass was put to a vote, and it lost (this was 2006 or 2007 I think).

 

[strookie]

... York U station has such comically limited access to the surrounding campus (just a single entrance in the middle of the Commons)....

There are three entrances in the "boomerang" itself, one at each tip, and one on the inside bend. The latter is perhaps going to be the least used, because it opens up to a sunken amphitheatre-like pit intended for performances and other forms of entertainment. Is it possible you missed those entrances in the drawings, or have I misunderstood your point?

Don't hold me to the following, though, because I'm not sure whether I've got it right and I don't have time to check the project description in detail: Another entrance is planned near or actually inside York Lanes.

 

[gweed123]

There are three entrances in the "boomerang" itself, one at each tip, and one on the inside bend. The latter is perhaps going to be the least used, because it opens up to a sunken amphitheatre-like pit intended for performances and other forms of entertainment. Is it possible you missed those entrances in the drawings, or have I misunderstood your point?

Don't hold me to the following, though, because I'm not sure whether I've got it right and I don't have time to check the project description in detail: Another entrance is planned near or actually inside York Lanes.

I think what he meant is that, with a lot of subway stations, there's entrances at or near the ends of the platforms, in addition to in the middle. Most stations have a primary as well as a secondary (usually un-manned, automated) entrance. York U station, although there's 3 doors, it's still really only one entrance.

I agree that for such a pedestrian-oriented station like York U, having a 2nd or even a 3rd entrance seems like it would be useful, even if it was as simple as a staircase built into an existing building. The TTC is spending tens of millions putting in 2nd entrances at existing stations (Dufferin, Pape, Wellesley, soon to be Dundas), so it seems kind of odd that they would pass up the opportunity to put in a 2nd one when the station is being built from scratch.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

There are three entrances in the "boomerang" itself, one at each tip, and one on the inside bend. The latter is perhaps going to be the least used, because it opens up to a sunken amphitheatre-like pit intended for performances and other forms of entertainment. Is it possible you missed those entrances in the drawings, or have I misunderstood your point?

Don't hold me to the following, though, because I'm not sure whether I've got it right and I don't have time to check the project description in detail: Another entrance is planned near or actually inside York Lanes.

It's all one entrance. The two boomerang arms just take you to the middle doors on the inside bend. They don't increase access to the platform for anyone or reduce travel time. The multiple doors on the west side of the boomerang all lead to a single entrance in the middle of the platform, with no entrances reaching off the north/south/east sides of the platform (such as to the buildings the subway passes under without accessing). Sure, there's escalators in the two arms, but they could have had a small surface hut with an escalator leading right down to the platform or had entrances on either side of the Commons lead to their respective ends of the platform.

For a campus that large, there should be extensive and direct access points. Whatever warm, fuzzy feeling there is to be gained from delving into the welcoming bosom of the boomerang and its arms will be more than eaten up by the persistent, gnawing stress of being forced 30 seconds or a minute out of one's way for absolutely no reason other than an architect's whim and a municipal bureaucracy's indifference.

If they've added an entrance into York Lanes (and I don't remember if they have) it was done after the EA/public notification process.

 

[Red October]

Oh and the TTC post-secondary card applies to other colleges and universities (including Waterloo and Laurier) so if you're in TO working for the summer you still get a discount.

Laurier, yes. Waterloo, no. Believe me, I tried when I had a co-op work term in Toronto and had to take the TTC every day to get to work. They have a list of schools and since Laurier has a grad program based in Toronto, it is included, but Waterloo is not.

 

[nfitz]

Laurier, yes. Waterloo, no. Believe me, I tried when I had a co-op work term in Toronto and had to take the TTC every day to get to work. They have a list of schools and since Laurier has a grad program based in Toronto, it is included, but Waterloo is not.

The criteria is "enrolled in a full-time degree or diploma program in a recognized Post-Secondary institution located within the City of Toronto"

Both UW and WLU are included - www.ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Fare_information/Seniors_students_and_children/Eligible_Post-Secondary_Schools/index.jsp but only for City of Toronto locations. (Waterloo also has a grad program based in Toronto). Obviously WLU or UW co-op students who are working in Toronto aren't eligible - though I doubt that will have stopped some from fraudulently using the discounted passes.

 

[datamouse]

From the latest TTC CEO report:

TYSSE Project Expenditures: $80.8 million under spent. The project is largely on schedule with the exception of the northern tunnels and Highway 407 contract which is seriously behind schedule on all sites. Work is now progressing well with the exception of the tunnelling operation which is held up at York University on account of late set‐up of compensation grouting. The southern tunnels and Sheppard West contract is behind schedule in the tunnelling operation but making effort to catch up.

 

[Swarley]

I can't believe they can say the project is "largely on schedule" yet at the same time the northern tunnels are seriously behind schedule. If a key contract like tunnels is behind schedule, it is probably on the critical path and therefore the whole project is behind schedule.

Anyone still think this will open December 2015?

 

[lead82]

Optimistically it will open sometime in March 2016. Pessimistically, November 2016.

It would have been great if they could phase in the construction and open up the portion up to Steeles in time for the Pan Am games.

 

[nfitz]

It would have been great if they could phase in the construction and open up the portion up to Steeles in time for the Pan Am games.

I'm not sure a temporary opening of a couple of stations for the Pan Am games is precluded. Trains should be operational on the track by then anyways.

 

[datamouse]

And as far as I know your can't really speed up tunnel boring.