Transit student fee looking at increase

Students might see their transportation fees go up by about $30 in the next academic year.

At Friday’s Student Fee Advisory Subcommittee meeting, Chapel Hill Transit requested a $27.75 fee increase for the 2015-16 school year and an $11.14 increase for the 2016-17 year.

Other fees that will be voted upon are a proposed $3 increase by the Student Union for 2015-16 and another $3 increase for 2016-17.

The subcommittee heard a proposal from Department of Public Safety representatives on behalf of Chapel Hill Transit.

“They do have some significant increases projected for the future,” DPS director of parking Cheryl Stout said. “And it does have a lot to do with an aging fleet.”

Chapel Hill Transit has 42 buses that need to be retired, Stout said. She said reduced federal funding and general operating costs also contribute to this request for a fee increase. Transit is not inflating its projections, and they usually come close to their projected costs every year, she said.

Autumn McClellan, treasurer of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation and a voting member of the subcommittee, said there was some disagreement in the Student Fees Audit Committee regarding $9 of the proposed $27.75 request for next year.

“From Transit’s perspective ... they should’ve gotten that last year as part of these scheduled increases they need to meet these increased expenses,” McClellan said. “Had they gotten that $9 last year, they’d only be asking for $18.75 this year.”

Student Congress Finance Committee Chairman Joshua Aristy was surprised by these large year-to-year increases.

“(The $9 in question) does look alarming in addition to everything else when we look at other fee areas and how much they increase — sometimes by cents, sometimes by dollars — but not as many increase by as large as (Transit does),” he said.

Stout said parking revenues are subsidizing the transit system by $1.5 million a year, but revenue from permit and visitor parking only contributes so much.

Rates for daytime permits have already reached the price range of metropolitan areas, and there is no night parking program to provide revenue either, Stout said.

“There’s some catch-up point that some user group is going to have to compensate,” she said.

“We really don’t have a significant revenue stream to approach. It becomes very difficult for us to keep a sustainable transportation and parking system if we don’t collect those fees,” she said.

McClellan recognized the importance of balancing Transit’s needs with keeping fee increases fair for students.

The subcommittee will vote on Transit’s fee request by email this week, as they did not have a quorum Friday.

“That one, I have no guess about,” McClellan said when asked her opinion of how the vote on the Transit proposal will turn out. “I couldn’t even venture a guess as to how that will play out.”

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