The Gateway: Volume 103, Issue 07

Page 1

Sports

Why the NHL lockout may be good for the Oilers 25

Opinion

Feature

Probing the problem of procrastination 14

Bad-breed bylaw unjustified 11

gateway October 17th, 2012

Issue No. 7

Volume 103

THE

TH E O F F IC IA L STUDE NT NE WS PA P E R AT TH E UN I V ER S I T Y OF A LBERTA

U-Pass cost increase negotiations stalled Katelyn Hoffart

staff reporter @katelynhoffart U-Pass price negotiations between Edmonton Transit Services and the University of Alberta have yet to get the green light for students who will be using local transit systems throughout the 2013-2014 school year.

“We feel that (the survey) heavily skews the data towards people (who) use transit much more frequently than low-usage transit users.” saadiq sumar

vice-president (student life), Students’ union

The contract, launched in 2008, comes up for renewal every four years. Negotiations are handled simultaneously by ETS and the U of A’s U-Pass Advisory Board — a group of students, staff and administrative members intent on reaching a common agreement on the student transit pass. This year’s U-Pass costs students $140 per semester, but the new

proposal from ETS is seeking to raise that fee to $171.42 per semester — a figure based on a survey ETS conducted to collect data regarding how many times students use their pass. The U-Pass Advisory Board has opposed the new proposal due to concerns with the data collection methods ETS used. The opposition has led to discussions with city councillors who sit on the City of Edmonton’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to bring the issue to city council and move negotiations forward. An ETS U-Pass pilot program evaluation conducted in 2009 says the price point is generated based on ETS receiving an 84 per cent portion of the revenue the pass creates — producing 30 per cent of adult cash fare at 40 trips per month, with an assumed static student enrolment of 43,000 per term. This number of trips per month for each student was re-surveyed by ETS last year, resulting in an average range of 38-41 trips per month. The survey was conducted on buses and LRT trains at a variety of stops and stations. Although ETS has not yet officially released their new survey data, U of A Students’ Union Vice-President (Student Life)

photo illustration: tianbo liu

Saadiq Sumar says he was told the new numbers sat at roughly 47 trips per student, per month, which was factored into the pricing as a reason for the increase. However, the Students’ Union is filing a Freedom of

Information request regarding the survey data. “In terms of that survey specifically, we feel that it heavily skews the data towards people (who) use transit much more frequently than

low-usage transit users,” Sumar said. “You’re more likely to hit people who use transit more often on the bus than people who use it less.”

PLEASE SEE upass PAGE 5

theatre preview

Heather richards

Walterdale’s The Weir pours a pint of stout Irish superstition Annie Pumphrey arts & culture writer

As Halloween approaches, it brings with it haunting tales of ghostly spirits, unexplainable occurrences and the Walterdale Playhouse’s eerie production of The Weir. Appropriate to the season’s theme of “Retrospective,” The Weir takes a look at the significance of one’s past through the perspective of rural Irish pub-goers, all the while mixing

in a healthy dose of traditional Irish superstitions and the supernatural. Marking the opening of Walterdale Playhouse’s 52nd season, The Weir explores the power of stories and how they connect people to the past. Written by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, the play follows five characters in a rural Irish pub as they tell folk tales, reveal the secrets of their past and yes, drink lots of beer. “(The characters) are really caught

in the past, and part of this play is their breaking down of the barrier, or the weir, and the idea of letting healing occur,” says director Anne Marie Szucs. “If there is something traumatic that happens to you in the past, you don’t really deal with it. It just sort of stays there until something lets it out.” This is the second time Szucs has taken the reins of Walterdale’s annual donor-voted show. As luck would have it, Szucs was planning

to go to Europe this past summer, and after agreeing to direct Irish play The Weir, she added Ireland to her itinerary. Once in Dublin, Szucs was able to do some “pub research” before delving into rehearsals of the play, even indulging herself in classic Irish beers like Guinness for the first time.

“What I felt and absorbed in Dublin was the warmth of the pubs. There was literally a pub every half a block, if not more so,” Szucs says of her trip. “What’s fascinating is that each pub has its own group of regulars. It’s their community.”

“I shit my pants again at Cameron.”

PLEASE SEE Weir PAGE 18

#3LF

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