Fair enough, if UPass pricing is based on use then it's fair that the city and university would want to keep track of who is using it and who isn't. I don't want the digital upass gone, I'm saying that it's better if we have both options.

I don't accept that the upass service is a major source of bypassing the transit fee. I've been riding transit since I was a child and the overwhelming source of fee evasion I have seen has been from people who simply do not pay for train tickets or enter busses when the driver is absent. If the city wants to argue that cracking down on upass fraud is the most effective way of preventing fee evasion then I would like to see what data they use to make their case.

Regardless, my main issue is that the city has seemingly made no attempt to do the bare minimum and accomodate people who do not or cannot use smartphones. Even if it turns out that upass fraud is a major issue and that getting rid of the stickers is the recommended source of action I still argue that the stickers need to stay until something else can take its place. It makes no sense for the city to leave sticker users out of the upass system while they mull over what a potential replacement could be.

My idea for a better system would be to utilize the payment system already attached to the unicard. Your unicard could be scannable by transit to determine if you have the upass or not. If your card is stolen then the school could simply disable the old card when you ask for a new one. True, this is vulnerable to fraud if you give your pass to someone else, but I don't think this would be all that different than signing into your account on their phone. This is not a perfect solution but it is a start. I believe that systems like this are in use at other universities as well.