The committee members recommended to Chancellor James Moeser that the University pay for improvements to on-campus transit services and to cover the employee fees that might be needed to support fare-free busing.
The members discussed but decided against raising the price of parking permits or creating a transit fee for employees to finance their share of the busing cost.
Ken Litowsky, a policy director in UNC human resources, said leaving all transit costs to employees could affect UNC's ability to hire. "It's the employer's responsibility and more and more it should be shifted to them," he said.
On Feb. 13, students passed a referendum to raise student fees to support the fare-free proposal. If the governments of Chapel Hill and Carrboro pass the fare-free busing proposal, the committee is recommending that UNC pay $1.5 million to implement it. If the proposal does not pass, the committee is asking for $1 million for on-campus transit improvements.
If the proposal -- which could be voted on as early as this summer -- does pass, the student fee increase will not go into effect until fall 2002, and the committee recommends that UNC pay a one-time amount of $500,000 to bridge this fee gap.
The committee also recommended that the University pay an additional $500,000 to fund a portion of the cost of switching to the fare-free system if the proposal does pass, which is subject to Moeser's discretion. The remaining $500,000 needed would partially come from an increase in late fees and higher costs for main campus conference parking, which must be approved by the Board of Trustees.
If the towns do not pass the proposal, the committee hopes to raise the $1 million for on-campus transit improvements by asking UNC to fund $500,000 and for the other half to partially come from an increase in late fees and higher costs for main campus conference parking.
Professor Dorothy Verkerk said it's important for UNC to pay for employees' transit. "For the University to provide money for transit isn't a frivolous thing," she said. "This is absolutely essential."
