VICTORIA--2,500 signed postcards were presented in the BC Legislature today calling on Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon to help end discriminatory transit pricing for students at Vancouver Community College, Emily Carr University and Douglas College. Under current TransLink policy, students at those post-secondary institutions would have to pay more than double what students at SFU and UBC pay to access the same transit system with a U-Pass.

"Students at VCC, Emily Carr University and Douglas College currently pay up to five times more for transit than many university students on the U-Pass," said Maggie Murray, a representative of the Students' Unions of Vancouver Community College. "Today, we're calling on the Minister of Transportation to step in and end U-Pass price discrimination."

Students at the three post-secondary institutions have been lobbying TransLink and the provincial government for the removal of the policy that the U-Pass be "revenue-neutral" so that they can be included in the U-Pass program at a fair and standardized price, but efforts over the last 8 years have either been ignored or not resolved.

"Access to affordable, high quality public transit is one of the biggest issues facing students in our province. It is high time the BC government invested the necessary funding to make transit affordable for all students," said Shamus Reid, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-British Columbia, which represents students at the three institutions.

The 2,500 postcards were signed by students at all three institutions over the late fall andwinter. Local MLA Jenn McGinn, who represents the area surrounding Emily Carr University, presented the postcards in the Legislature today and read a statement informing legislators about the transit issues faced by Metro Vancouver students.