Students Pay More For Bus Pass Than University Staff

A difference of 20,000 ISK in the subsidised annual Strætó bus pass can be found between University of Iceland staff and students, in favour of the staff, reports Vísir. Representatives of the student interest groups at the university are very dissatisfied with this decision.

In addition to this, parking fees at the University of Iceland will begin this autumn, after being delayed since last year. Students and staff will now have to pay a 230 ISK hourly fee or a 1,500 ISK monthly fee to park near university buildings.

“Alongside these changes, the University of Iceland has made an agreement with Strætó on special rates for period passes for staff,” reads an announcement from the school.

It states that if staff sign a “commuting agreement” — which involves using environmentally friendly transportation to work twice a week — they can purchase an annual Strætó pass for 36,000 ISK, along with a membership card to the university’s gym.

The announcement also states that students continue to receive a 50% discount on Strætó. With this student discount, students pay 56,000 ISK for an annual pass. Students can also gain access to the gym for a yearly fee of 12,000 ISK. Therefore, a 32,000 ISK difference is between the staff arrangement and the student offer.

Student interest groups react

Arent Orri J. Claessen, president of the Student Council at the University of Iceland and a member of the student organisation Vaka, was shocked.

“If this is true, then it’s completely crazy,” he told Vísir.

“It’s quite absurd to make a decision like this and to subsidise staff so heavily when they already receive salaries for showing up. Meanwhile, students, who typically don’t have much money, are left to bear the brunt.”

Ármann Leifsson, president of Röskva, says it is sad that there is such a big difference between the benefits for staff and students.

“It is 32,000 ISK easier for full-time staff to be at the university than it is for students, who often have low incomes.”

Ármann says the introduction of parking fees at the university had been anticipated for some time, and Röskva had fought for a student transport pass to accompany the new fees. The university had initially been very willing to accommodate students, but that situation changed at the start of 2024 when school representatives broke off negotiations with Strætó.

The reason given was that it was too expensive to subsidise transport passes for students.

“This is available at Landspítali, which is one of the largest workplaces in the country,” says Ármann.

“The university’s reasoning was that the transport pass was too expensive, given that there are over 3.000 employees at the University of Iceland.”

Both Arent and Ármann say they will not stand by but will continue to fight for students’ interests.

“They say 1,500 ISK now, but it has been mentioned in meetings that this is just the first step so that people get used to it,” says Ármann, who believes it is important to fight to keep fees from increasing.

Arent says that the Student Council will call for resistance, but it is not yet clear in what form.

The two representatives also emphasised that it is important to provide exemptions for students who live outside the capital area and for families.

“You don’t see anything about special measures for people who live outside the capital area, families, or working students,” says Arent.

“There are no exemptions, which Röskva was fighting for — exemptions for people coming from outside the capital area or for families,” says Ármann.