More U of R students taking the bus since U-Pass brought in

Just a few months after introducing a universal bus passfor post-secondary students, Regina is seeing a boom in transit usage.

The U-Pass was introduced in September by the University of Regina Students' Union. Since then, ridership hasgone up 78 per cent among university students, according to a report filed Thursday by the city's community and protective services committee.

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The pass costs students $87.60 per semester, and acts as acity-widetransit pass, valid for the whole semester.The regular rate for a four-month pass is $312.

URSUpresident Jermain McKenzie rides the bus to and from university and said he's noticed an increase in ridership.

"The buses, especiallyin the mornings, are usually packed. All the seats are filled and people are standing," McKenzie said.

That wasn't the case last year, he said. "There is definitely an uptake in ridership."

The numbers seem to back him up.

Nearly twice as manytrips were taken by university students during the 2016 fall semester compared to 2015.

Between September and December 2015, post-secondary students took 168,509 trips. For the same period in 2016, that number spiked to 300,380 trips.

In preparation for the boom in demand, the city bought five extra buses and added 3,200 hours of bus service to the schedule. URSU fees covered the cost of the additional services, according to the report.

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Overall transit usage up

While the U-Pass is only available to post-secondary students, the added services are available to everyone in the city. The city said as a result, overall transit usage is also up since the U-Pass was introduced.

November 2016 saw the greatest increase in ridership, with 10.5 per cent more rides than in November the year prior.

The U-Pass contract between the city and university student union is for seven years.