Font ResizeOAKLAND — A program giving college students unlimited bus trips appears headed for failure after thousands of the students failed to pay a $31-per-semester fee, leaving the college district owing $500,000.
Fewer than half of the Peralta Community College District's 13,216 eligible students — those taking nine or more units — have paid the fee for the Easy Pass program, which was approved earlier this year in a student election that attracted just 1,048 voters. Eighty-eight percent of those students voted yes on the measure.
The Easy Pass, which was supposed to be in effect through 2017, was heralded as a way to save some students more than $1,000 per year on bus fares. It was enabled by a bill passed by the state Legislature, which is required to approve any fees imposed on community college students.
Peralta officials, unable to collect money from more than 8,000 students, have refused to pay AC Transit the $500,000 or so it owes, said Clarence Johnson, a spokesman for the bus agency. The state cut several million dollars from Peralta this year.
"We entered this agreement with the assumption we would get paid," he said. "If we don't get paid, we will have to cancel the program."
Peralta leaders, including Trustee Nicky Gonzalez Yuen, who led the Easy Pass effort, declined to discuss the issue. Gonzalez Yuen said he preferred to discuss the positive aspects of the bus program.
At a Sept. 15 Peralta
"You are not seriously suggesting that, after two years of work, we would renege on an agreement," Gonzalez Yuen said to the chancellor.
"I am seriously suggesting that," Harris replied.
Students have suggested they were misled by the district during the campaign leading up to the April vote. The measure called for a fee to be charged to full-time students, which are usually defined as those taking 12 or more units, as opposed to the nine units defined by the measure.
"I cannot say whose fault it is," said Ju Hong, student-body president at Oakland's Laney College. He said he has paid his fee and rides the bus to school. "But next time, we should definitely take a look at what we're voting for."
The fee should be optional, he said, and students who do not use the bus should not be forced to pay.
Peralta will be in default if it does not pay AC Transit by Oct. 19, said Johnson, the agency spokesman. The district would then have an additional 30 days to correct the problem, he said.
Although AC Transit leaders understand Peralta's financial troubles, the transit agency's own budget problems make it difficult to sustain the Easy Pass program much longer, Johnson said.
"It's an extremely good deal, but it's based entirely on the universe of students who participate," he said. "If only half the students pay, that won't work for us."
Matt Krupnick covers higher education. Reach him at 510-208-6488.
