Travel cost reimbursement policy

The Travel Reimbursement Policy is done based on the information below and aims to reimburse equally and increase awareness. It is important to know that a distinction is made between event travel and GA travel.

Information on Travel Costs

First, a table will be shared that shows the travel costs from and to each UC. The amount is calculated using the 9292.nl tool. The addresses that are used for each UC is shown below the table.

	AUC	UCU	UCR	LUC	UCM	EUC	UCG	UCT	UCTilburg
AUC		€10,49	€27,40	€12,80	€30,42	€16,30	€28,64	€26,06	€21,96
UCU	€10,49		€27,86	€13,86	€29,05	€13,70	€29,90	€26,04	€17,19
UCR	€27,40	€27,86		€23,50	€28,89	€21,50	€28,64	€29,14	€21,63
LUC	€12,80	€13,86	€23,50		€28,89	€5,10	€28,64	€28,78	€17,70
UCM	€30,42	€29,05	€28,89	€28,89		€28,72	€29,96	€30,65	€25,15
EUC	€16,30	€13,70	€21,50	€5,10	€28,72		€30,98	€30,12	€13,70
UCG	€28,64	€29,90	€28,64	€28,64	€29,96	€30,98		€26,06	€27,40
UCT	€26,06	€26,04	€29,14	€28,78	€30,65	€30,12	€26,06		€27,94
UCTilburg	€21,96	€17,19	€21,63	€17,70	€25,15	€13,70	€27,40	€27,94

The prices for cheaper travel options as compared to the standard fees are shown below.

Event Travel

For the event travel it is expected that the SA’s organize the travelling, often they already organize the promotion or tickets, so it should not cause any trouble. Additionally, when the SA’s organize the travel options to UCSRN events it solves the lack of awareness, as the reimbursement will be done together with the SA and the UCSRN treasurer, eliminating the students who would need to file their reimbursement themselves.

When the SA’s organize the travelling to events they are expected to use NS group tickets as given the context of UCSRN events they are always usable, additionally, they are always available. Using group tickets ensures both cheap travelling and equal reimbursement. The group tickets reimbursement rate is 25% for one way or two way tickets, in other words, travelling in both directions will be partially reimbursed. Given the prices of 2021 the reimbursement rate will result in travel reimbursements as shown in table 5 below.

General assemblies

The Reimbursement rate for GA’s is set at 35%, which is 10% higher than events. The reason for this is that all the board members are working together for all the students. With this reimbursement rate for the GA’s a total of approximately 150eu would be reimbursed per GA, if all nine members would attend the GA with six representatives. With the assumption that there are three GA’s in an association year, this would total up to approximately 450eu a year.

With the current reimbursement system and rates the expectation is that they will function as an incentive to come to the GA with more representatives, as then it becomes cheaper for the members to attend. Given the prices of 2021 the reimbursement rate will result in travel reimbursements as shown in table 6 below.

Exceptions

Even though the majority of the events can be attended by the use of public transportation, there are a few exceptions, as explained below:

• Busses will still be reimbursed at 3,50 per person, however, this needs to be discussed with the UCSRN Treasurer beforehand. This option will also only be chosen if public transport is not a viable option, this judgement is to be made by the UCSRN treasurer and needs to be supported by the EB.
• Car travel costs will still be reimbursed at a rate of 0.19 eu per kilometer (distance will be calculated by using google maps). Also this needs to be discussed with the UCSRN treasurer before the travelling takes place.
•  If for some reason the day retour ticket is not available at spoordeelwinkel or at a similar shop, then it is expected that the individual that would need to travel tries to find the cheapest option. If there is no cheaper alternative available, then the individual will be reimbursed in a different way, after approval by the UCSRN treasurer. When approval is given by the UCSRN treasurer, then the individual will be reimbursed based on the reimbursement rates in the table below. The reimbursement rates in the table will be used similarly to a progressive tax system, meaning that the first 10eu will be reimbursed at a rate of 25% and the next 5eu will be reimbursed at 30% etc.
• If approval is not given by the UCSRN treasurer, then the person will be reimbursed based on the reimbursement rates previously discussed. The assumption is that this would only be the case if it concerns a GA, because as stated previously group tickets are always available

• It is expected that if EUC travels to LUC and vice versa for a GA and their party consists of 4 or less people, that they will use the standard rates of the NS. As otherwise they would not use the cheapest option. They will be reimbursed for their travel costs at the 35% reimbursement rate. (this only holds true if the travelling with OV-card is actually cheaper than group ticket).

Minimums

The UCSRN will not be reimbursing anything under €3.50 for events one way and under €5 for GAs one way. 

Implications of the Policy

There are a few implications of this policy that are worthy to mention.

First, this policy will cause a shift of responsibility from the UCSRN promoting the cheapest options towards the SA’s centralizing the organization of travelling and providing the cheapest option to their students. This is not deemed a problem as tickets and promotion for events often already is organized by the SA’s. Another benefit is that this policy eradicates the step that students would need to request their own reimbursement at the UCSRN, since the SA’s will now provide the travel option and purchase them, resulting in an interaction between the UCSRN treasurer and the respective SA’s treasurer.

Furthermore, the new travel reimbursement policy is transparent, clear, and easy to use. It will likely also result in a better use of the travel budget, as the travelling will be organized through the SA’s. Corresponding to this is the fact that the UCSRN treasurer would need to increase the travel reimbursement budget according to the expected events and travels in the respective year.