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U-Pass extended for a year

Cal State Long Beach will continue the U-PASS program for a year, allowing students, faculty and staff to continue to ride Long Beach Transit for free, university officials announced today.  

The U-PASS program was introduced at the beginning of this semester for a one-month trial period, and due to the popularity of the program, it will now be available seven days a week for at least a year and possibly longer.  

“The experiment … was an amazing success,” said CSULB President F. King Alexander.  

In the week before school started, there were about 5,500 boardings by campus members, according to Long Beach Transit.  By the second week of the semester there were over 20,000.  

“The results have been phenomenal,” said Larry Jackson, president and CEO of Long Beach Transit, in a prepared statement.  “The U-PASS has more than doubled our boardings to and from the university compared to what we had projected.”  
Alexander listed the various benefits the program provides.  

“It’s good for Long Beach environmentally, it’s good for our university, it takes more cars off the road,” he said.  “It allows students to have free transportation and to use the precious gas that they pay so much for to go to work and to do other things that perhaps they need.”

The program is costing the university about $800 to $1,000 each day for five days a week, Alexander said, making the total cost of the year-long program about $200,000.  Long Beach Transit is providing the weekend days to the university for free.
The funding for the program has been reallocated from other university transportation programs, such as a bus coupon program for university faculty, Alexander said.  

Some of the funding also comes from fines and forfeitures — money from parking tickets — said Mary Stephens, the vice president of Administration and Finance.  
Alexander encouraged the campus to use the U-PASS even when not commuting to and from campus.

“Use it to go downtown,” he said.  “Use it anytime you want, all over the Long Beach community.”  

In order to use the program, current students, faculty and staff swipe their CSULB ID card through the bus’ farebox instead of paying a fare.  

Brian Troutner, the ASI treasurer, said he himself has benefited from the program.
“I only drive my car from one side of the street to the other to avoid street sweeping,” he said.  “I haven’t filled up my gas tank in over a month.”  

Alexander said he hopes the program becomes a national model for the future.  
“They say that there’s no free lunch in society,” Alexander said.  “Well, we’re not offering free lunches, but we are offering free rides.”  

5 Comments

  1. Avatar

    I normally ride LBT and pay the $31 Student Pass fee each month. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but for a student trying to the pay the bills…it adds up. The U-Pass program helps alleviate this cost, as well as the flucuating cost of gas and the increased hike in student parking passes and parking meters. And, of course, it also minimizes heavy traffic on campus and helps the environment. With budget cuts and rising tuition digging into student pockets, I think this is one of the best ideas to hit campus in awhile! Yay!

  2. Avatar

    I am glad that they LBT decided to extend the program. Some days I would only have $1.80, roundtrip bus fare to and from campus. Now, I have a little pocket change =)

  3. Avatar
    Terrence Mullens

    Yesssss!!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much!!!!

  4. Avatar

    YES !THANK YOU!

  5. Avatar
    Blanca Herrera

    I LOVE THIS IDEA AND I THINK THAT IT IS A GREAT THING THAT IS BEING DONE FOR CSULB STUDENTS/FACULTY/STAFF, AS WELL AS THE ENVIORNMENT!!!!!
    GO BEACH!!!!!

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