PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College students have agreed to add a $5 fee to their tuition to reduce the pollution they generate driving to and from school, and Clallam Transit is expected to approve it Monday.
Students who pay Peninsula College tuition for at least five credits this fall will pay an additional, mandatory $5 fee and receive an unlimited-use bus pass good for the entire fall quarter.
Clallam Transit commissioners are expected to approve an interlocal agreement with the college to authorize the one-year trial program at their regular meeting at 1 p.m. Monday at the agency’s headquarters at 830 W. Lauridsen Blvd., General Manager Terry Weed said this week.
Students voted overwhelmingly
The pass was authorized by students who voted 102-13 June 4 to impose a $5 quarterly fee on all students to pay for some to ride the bus free to school — and everywhere else Clallam Transit goes.
The notion of offering a bus pass funded by student fees has been gestating for six years but never generated the enthusiasm it did this year, said Rick Ross, the director of athletics and student programs.
The turning point came in winter, when 70 percent of students who answered a survey said they favored the fee.
“That was pretty much a green light to put it on a ballot and see what happens,” Ross said.
Peninsula College had 1,771 full-time-equivalent students during the recently concluded school year and about 10,000 students overall who took classes.
Between 50 and 200 students are expected to use the passes on a regular basis, Ross said.
Stephanie McGarvie, 2009-2010 Associate Student Council President, credited efforts by the college to raise environmental awareness with the measure passing.
The college has joined a higher-education-based nationwide program to reduce carbon emissions and has integrated lessons on sustainability into the curriculum.
“They are trying to make an impact, and it’s really affecting the students,” McGarvie, 22, of Joyce, said Wednesday.
Balloting for the bus-pass measure took place at a booth in the Pirate Union Building staffed by McGarvie.
“Everybody was jazzed,” she said of the response.
Most courses at the college are five credits, so most students will be eligible for the program, she said.
“There was really strong support for it,” she said. “We felt all the students were for it, even students who said they probably would not use it.
“It not only reduces the carbon footprint but provides students with a way to get around for a cheap price,” she added.
“People who live far distances can get into town without having to stress about it.”
Generates more Transit income
The $5 fee replaces Clallam Transit’s quarterly $53 college-student bus pass, which generates $20,000 a year.
The new pass is expected to generate between $35,000 and $40,000 a year, Weed said.
“We think generating more revenue actually is a good thing for us, certainly, because we need it,” he said.
Ridership reached record levels in 2008, dropped only slightly in 2009, and is two-tenths of a percent higher than 2009 so far this year.
But sales tax proceeds, which fund 85 percent of operations, has forced the agency to draw down reserves by $500,000 to $1 million a year, Weed said.
So, in one money-making move, fares for basic, one-way service will increase by 33 percent to $1 on July 1 for all fixed-route and paratransit service.
The students, though, were thinking about “green awareness” when they pushed the $5-fee proposal to Clallam Transit, Weed said.
He recalled going to the college in past years and trying to generate interest among students for the program, to no avail.
“This is the first time that essentially the students approached us with a very seriously aggressive campaign and recognized that this would be in their best interest if they did it,” he said.
“They really took the ball and ran with it, and they should have the credit.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
