I usually see her twice a day at the Davis Street El stop. She seduces me with her big brown eyes and a smile so big I think she’s gloating. Her gray DePaul University sweatshirt is a little big for her small frame. But every time I see her the words echo through my head: “What does she know that you don’t?”

You’ve probably seen her too. She is a model for the Chicago Transit Authority ad promoting U-Pass, a service that provides full-time students unlimited rides on CTA trains and buses for an annual rate of about $150. Its primary intention is to provide students at schools with large commuter populations a cost-effective way of getting to and from class.

I’m the ideal candidate for U-Pass. I live near Wrigleyville and between school and work put $15 per week on my El card. But I don’t think U-Pass is right for Northwestern.

With two-thirds of undergraduates living on campus and all but a handful living more than a short stroll away, the number of students who would use U-Pass for its intended purpose seems minimal. Rainbow Alliance Sen. John Hughes, who wrote the bill, said a poll will be conducted in the next few weeks to determine students’ El-usage patterns.

“The ultimate recommendation will be based on a critical analysis of the data and not just the basic outcome,” Hughes, a Weinberg junior and former Daily Forum editor who serves as a board member for the Students Publishing Co., which oversees The Daily, wrote in an e-mail.

U-Pass advocates’ will argue, whatever Associated Student Government’s poll concludes, that if the El were included in tuition more students would use it. But the inherent flaw is that trips to Chicago already involve spending large amounts of money. Has the $3.50 roundtrip cost ever persuaded anyone from tramping on down to The Keg of Evanston instead of Wrigleyville? Visiting the Charles Dawes House instead of the Art Institute? If it has then bestill my heart! I’ll give you the $3.50 and maybe even pay for the first round of drinks at The Cubby Bear.

But this isn’t the case: Any free shuttles to Chicago have been grossly underused. Although I enjoyed the Chicago Weekend Shuttle that dropped me off at the corner of Clark and Addison streets, few others did and ASG stopped funding that inter-city drunk bus last year. Even the intercampus shuttle, which picks students up on Sheridan Road and drops them off just a stone’s throw from Michigan Avenue, usually has few occupied seats.

If this were really a good deal for NU students, then U-Pass would be the CTA’s dark little secret. Why would the system want to give us a discount in the midst of fare hikes and a budget crisis? By shoving our smiling friend in the DePaul sweatshirt in our faces, they’re trying to create a stir among the student body. Well, it worked.

Take part in ASG’s poll so we can settle the U-Pass debate once and for all. If I’m wrong, and so many students are scrounging for loose change to put on their El cards that U-Pass actually is a good investment, I’ll gladly eat my Von Dutch trucker hat.