On August 8th, Sheridan informed its students and employees that beginning on September 3, a new shuttle bus service will operate between its Trafalgar and Davis Campuses, on a purely optional, fee-for-use basis.
Shuttles will run between 6:15 am and 9:15 pm, Monday to Friday. The cost to ride will be $5 one-way, or $50 for an unlimited monthly pass. Each ride should take 45-60 minutes (depending on traffic) compared to the 90 minutes that each trip currently requires, using two different municipal transit services at a cost of $9.65.
Sheridan began offering a shuttle between its campuses in Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton in 2013. Previously, the service was funded by the college and the Sheridan Student Union, partly through the collection of mandatory student ancillary fees.
Mounting costs, and an interest in broadening student access to public transit in Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton prompted a student referendum for a Universal Transit Pass (U-Pass) in November 2018, to be funded through mandatory student fees. While the majority of students voted in favour of the U-Pass for September 2019, a new policy restricting the types of student fees that could be deemed mandatory prevented its implementation.
“Providing students with affordable and enhanced transit options between our campuses – especially since we operate in three distinct cities -- is always a top priority,” says Tracey Ens, AVP Business Services at Sheridan. “At the same time, we’re committed to running our operations with the utmost integrity and efficiency to ensure our financial sustainability over the long-term.”
The goal of this service is to recover the cost through ticket revenue. If utilization of this service does not cover the costs, Sheridan will consider other means to offset the shortfall, but may be forced to cancel the service. No student tuition dollars or government grant money are being used to fund the shuttle.
The service will run as a pilot project from September – December 2019, after which time ridership data will be reviewed to determine its longer term viability.