Originally Posted by starfish

You can vote not to have a bus pass at all.

I'm aware of that, but I wouldn't want to because it is such a good thing for Mac students in general to have. I just happen to be unlucky in that I can't live in Hamilton.

Some of us don't use the HSR at all. So how about the option to opt out, rather than making us pay more for no reason.
everyone else who lives in hamilton can still have the same services available to them.
It'll be like the health and dental.

Some of us don't use the HSR at all. So how about the option to opt out, rather than making us pay more for no reason.
everyone else who lives in hamilton can still have the same services available to them.
It'll be like the health and dental.

I haven't been to emergency room ever, nor have I been to a doctor in 5 years, why don't I opt out from taxes that pay for OHIP. Since I don't use it, I shouldn't pay for that.

It doesn't work that way. It's better when everyone pays a small share, and has an option to use it, rather than only people who use it pay the large amount and people who might need it get screwed.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

I haven't been to emergency room ever, nor have I been to a doctor in 5 years, why don't I opt out from taxes that pay for OHIP. Since I don't use it, I shouldn't pay for that.

It doesn't work that way. It's better when everyone pays a small share, and has an option to use it, rather than only people who use it pay the large amount and people who might need it get screwed.

It actually does work like that... I opted out of health and dental by showing proof of my own plans. Most of the students at mac live somewhere in that area. It's not fair for the few of us who commute to have to pay HSR fees plus approximately $200 for trains+GO buses/month. Why don't they make a plan for us, then?

Originally Posted by SweetyTweety

It actually does work like that... I opted out of health and dental by showing proof of my own plans. Most of the students at mac live somewhere in that area. It's not fair for the few of us who commute to have to pay HSR fees plus approximately $200 for trains+GO buses/month. Why don't they make a plan for us, then?

The agreement with the city unfortunately can't really be an opt out case. I am pretty sure the city agrees to it since they will get a consistent income, so they can dedicate $X towards Mac and not have to worry how profitable it is.

Feel free to vote against the bus pass. I think there are like 15-20% each year (if I am not mistaken) that vote against the pass each year, but short of that there isn't much you can do.

Originally Posted by SweetyTweety

It actually does work like that... I opted out of health and dental by showing proof of my own plans. Most of the students at mac live somewhere in that area. It's not fair for the few of us who commute to have to pay HSR fees plus approximately $200 for trains+GO buses/month. Why don't they make a plan for us, then?

You opted out because you had coverage outside what the university can provide. So no problem there. The bus passes could be bought outside university, but they would be extremely expensive, that's university has a deal with HSR, students pay for half of the bus passes, HSR pays for another half, and also they get the profits from 51 buses that they run (that are also used by non-students.

And yes you are right, you don't live near campus, but most people do, or at least that's what the university people assume, and that's what counts.

Having a bus pass with an opt-out option is not an option, for the economic reasons discussed earlier.

Why not have a plan for people who take GO? Well, again, there's no economic incentive to have any type of plan like this if people can opt out. And, of the students at Mac who are MSU members, 100% of them spend time in Hamilton, whether they live there or not, while a significantly smaller percentage use GO transit. McMaster is in Hamilton, and this is part of contributing to Hamilton's economy. There is no reason to have all ~20 000 students purchase a GO transit pass. In addition, the nature of GO's transit system would make the logistics of such a pass much more difficult, since they charge by distance traveled.

It's not logical, practical, or economically feasible to have a GO pass, while it IS logical, practical and economically feasible to have a HSR pass.

Originally Posted by starfish

Having a bus pass with an opt-out option is not an option, for the economic reasons discussed earlier.

Why not have a plan for people who take GO? Well, again, there's no economic incentive to have any type of plan like this if people can opt out. And, of the students at Mac who are MSU members, 100% of them spend time in Hamilton, whether they live there or not, while a significantly smaller percentage use GO transit. McMaster is in Hamilton, and this is part of contributing to Hamilton's economy. There is no reason to have all ~20 000 students purchase a GO transit pass. In addition, the nature of GO's transit system would make the logistics of such a pass much more difficult, since they charge by distance traveled.

It's not logical, practical, or economically feasible to have a GO pass, while it IS logical, practical and economically feasible to have a HSR pass.

Not to mention getting a "student pass" for the go system would likely require cooperation between all universities that have access to a go station. You would need minimum 200 thousand students each contributing 150-300 to generate the guaranteed minimum income required to even make Go transit officials consider it....

Why we have the discussion every year about opting out , when its pintless and will not happen unless they charge 500 for the bus pass.

In more releveant news , I am for the 51 expansion. If I was in Hamilton (not on internship) and could be on the committee , I would have proposed this along time ago. One big issue I see is the buses stop at 1am, but univeristy students are out later than this. While it will affect taxi drivers and I feel sorry for them, there needs to be a bus that at least passes at the end of club night. University of Waterloo and one other university has it at least. Its about safety for students too.