Urbanism Club and UTMSU conduct surveys to supplement their lobbying efforts for better public transit
The UTMSU and the Urbanism Club have completed surveys to assess student perspectives on transit.
In the fall of last year, the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Students’ Union (UTMSU) and the UTM Urbanism Club each commissioned transit surveys to evaluate students’ public transit needs.
The surveys, announced on the UTMSU’s Instagram on October 3, 2025, and on UTM Urbanism’s on October 14, 2025, are meant to support advocacy efforts from a student perspective when lobbying for better transit options to serve the campus community.
UTMSU Vice President External Rajas Dhamija and UTM Urbanism President Unezila Jamal shared insights into their surveys in interviews with The Medium.
According to Dhamija, the UTMSU’s survey “lets the numbers speak for themselves,” yielding hard data that the union can present to MiWay in its lobbying efforts.
UTM Urbanism had similar goals with its surveys, with Jamal explaining that her club is using it to “demonstrate that there’s a demand for a particular service that might be missing” from transit service to campus. That way, advocacy for these identified problems could proceed, which the transit survey uncovered.
While the UTMSU utilizes one overall survey, UTM Urbanism has two surveys—one in the fall and one in the winter—to reveal whether seasonal factors have any impact on commuting habits.
Both UTM Urbanism and the UTMSU have previously used transit surveys to successfully lobby for better transit service, including the formation of MiWay’s Route 126 Burnhamthorpe Express from UTM to Kipling Terminal, as well as extending Route 110 University Express services into the weekend. According to Jamal, future campaigns would include digital signage at the UTM bus stop, allowing the 126 to run all day, addressing the problem of “ghost buses” especially in the winter months, and generally providing greater “connectivity and accessibility” for the commute to reduce student stress.
Surveys designed for maximum student engagement
The surveys, which were conducted separately this year due to scheduling conflicts, were designed for maximum student engagement, taking into account the usefulness, depth, and breadth of the data collected, while remaining concise enough to avoid excessive survey fatigue.
Jamal explained that Urbanism’s fall and winter surveys pose similar questions, allowing her club to “observe the trend.” Testimonies from students, as well as advice from MiWay, ensure the contents of both surveys are applicable to the typical student commuting experience. For Urbanism, this can arise from its Urbanism Lunches every week, where students can talk directly about transit with Urbanism execs.
Meanwhile, the UTMSU uses comprehensive datasets on commute times to and from campus, as shown in the transit document for last year’s Lobby Week, based on last year’s survey, to make the strongest case for its recommendations when supplemented with survey data.
In fact, according to Dhamija, student responses to this year’s survey reached a record high of over 500, allowing the advocacy process to begin much earlier in November. “[We took] the first 500 responses, turned them into quality data that can be used in a presentation… [so we can] go to MiWay and discuss it with them,” he explained.
The relationship between student representatives and MiWay has been very cordial, and both Jamal and Dhamija have noted that the transit agency has always communicated clearly about feasibility and mutual collaboration. Dhamija described relations with MiWay as an “all-time high,” while Jamal indicated that “MiWay is always willing to collaborate with us, and they’re always willing to listen to what’s going on” and be transparent about costs, timeframes, and limitations to any recommendations provided by the survey.
Although the UTMSU survey has closed, the Urbanism Club plans to release its winter survey next month regarding the winter commute.
