Fare deal for Poly students

SINGAPORE - Nanyang Polytechnic student Joshua Leong, 18, used to pay at least S$45 for his MRT journeys to and from his school and his Tampines home.

With effect from April 6, he would only need to pay S$25, almost half of what he used to pay.

Yesterday, the Public Transport Council announced the good news: Polytechnic students will now pay the same price as their junior college (JC) and Institute of Technical Education counterparts for their monthly concession passes.

This shaves off almost half of what polytechnic students pay currently.

Mr Leong said: "I think this is a really great help and it is about time they did it. The concession fare used to be a killer for polytechnic students like myself - to spend at least S$52 for bus concessions and S$45 for MRT concessions."

Now Mr Leong may even consider buying the hybrid monthly concession pass because of its price cut of S$97 to S$51. He said: "As my family pays for my transport fares, I am glad that there will be less pressure on the expenses.

"The extra S$25 could then go to my savings for rainy days."

Singapore Polytechnic student Bernice Lam, 18, echoed the same sentiment. Like Joshua, Ms Lam has to spend at least S$45 a month for her transport between her school and Sengkang.

When she heard about the price cuts for monthly concessions, she was ecstatic. She said: "Wow this is really awesome! I can't believe the price difference is this huge!"

POINT OF CONTENTION

The issue of equal fare concessions for polytechnic students has been a point of contention for more than a decade.

Students petitioned against the fare rules, which could have prompted public transport operators to shave S$2 to S$4 off concession fares in 2009.

Then, students felt that the decrease was not significant enough.

In 2011, the issue was brought up in Parliament again, with Member of Parilament Cedric Foo pushing for the same thing.

Another group of people who will benefit from the change in the price of concession passes are the full-time National Servicemen.

A bus monthly concession pass will be S$9 cheaper, while a train monthly concession pass will be S$5 cheaper.

As for concession schemes for students in private institutions offering secondary level or higher education registered with the Council of Private Education, details will be released later this year or early next year.

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