Tertiary students seek lower public transport fares:
Close to 5,200 tertiary students have signed a petition for lower public transport fares. They say it is unfair they have to pay 80 per cent more in fares compared to students in junior colleges and institutes of technical education. Times are tough, and in light of the financial burden that their parents are shouldering during the economic downturn, a group of tertiary students came together last November to petition for cheaper fares. Not only are they taking to the streets to collect signatures, they are also doing it online. Polytechnic student Charlene Teo said: "We're only students and we don't get a lot of pocket money....so we hope the government can review the fares for us." A bus concession pass for junior college students costs $27.50 a month and for polytechnic students $52 (89 per cent difference).A train concession pass for junior college students costs $25 monthly and for polytechnic students $45 (80 per cent difference). The Transport Ministry says concession fares are granted by the public transport operators. But the government is encouraging operators to look into this matter. Earlier this week, the students had a meeting with the Public Transport Council and operators. Bernard Chen, a polytechnic student and the organiser of the petition, said: "We were pleasantly surprised to know that they actually wanted to initiate a meeting with us. So I think this is a very positive step forward for activism and civil society in general." At the meeting, the students proposed that tertiary students should pay not more than 160 per cent of what junior college students are paying. They also asked operators to come up with a mechanism to determine the fare subsidy for tertiary students. In the past, public transport operators have been reluctant to increase subsidies for tertiary students. SMRT had said that all concessionary fares are effectively cross-subsidised by full-fare paying commuters. Thus, they need to exercise prudence in granting further travel concession beyond the present arrangement, so as to avoid any adverse impact on full-fare paying commuters. Train concession prices have remained unchanged for more than 10 years since 1997, while the last revision for bus concession fares was in 2002. Responding to Channel NewsAsia's queries, both SMRT and SBS Transit said they will be lowering fares for commuters this year. SBS Transit said the fare reduction will include the fares for tertiary students, while SMRT said it is still considering the matter. Details will be out later this month.
