SAME age different fares - the perennial complaint of a polytechnic student.

Their counterparts in junior colleges and Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) pay lower fares than they do.

Now, more groups of poly students have joined a fresh offensive to get their fare concessions lowered.

Three petitions have been started to get transport operators to relent. And tens of thousands of signatures have been collected so far.

The students want public transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT, their service company TransitLink - which runs the concession schemes for SBS Transit and SMRT - and the Public Transport Council (PTC) to review fares for polytechnic students.

Right now, poly students are classified as tertiary students, together with full-time undergraduates and other diploma students from approved tertiary institutions.

JC and ITE students are considered non-tertiary and are charged different transport fares.

Several Members of Parliament (MPs) have previously raised the issue of differing transport fares in Parliament.

But transport operators have always argued that any changes made to the existing concessions will affect full-fare paying commuters.

When asked if it would act on the petitions, a TransitLink spokesman told The New Paper: 'All concessionary fares are effectively cross-subsidised by full-fare paying commuters.'

So the company is cautious in 'granting further travel concession to 'avoid any adverse impact on full-fare paying commuters'.

The spokesman added that polytechnic students already enjoy concession fares with monthly concession passes, and public transport operators have tried hard not to raise concession fares.

The prices of train concession passes and bus concession passes for students have not been revised since 1997 and 2002 respectively.

The TransitLink spokesman said the concession rates are not pegged to the student's age, but to 'the level of academic pursuit and the institutions of enrolment'.

Still, some argue it is time to relook the fare concessions for students.

MP for Aljunied GRC Cynthia Phua, who has raised the issue in Parliament several times, told The New Paper she does not buy operators' explanation that changes to existing concessions will translate into higher costs for full fare-paying commuters.

Basic necessity

She believes that as travel is a basic necessity for students, operators should help them more with transport expenses.

'I think the amount (of concession given to polytechnic students) should be decided by the transport operators,' she said.

'But looking at their finances, they should be able to help the students a little bit more.'

Madam Phua also wanted PTC to get more involved: 'It should seriously look at whether the transport companies should give a bit more rebates to students.'

She suggested PTC help the students appeal to the transport operators.

But PTC chairman Gerard Ee pointed out that its hands are tied. 'It's not within our power to force operators to give concessions - that's up to the operators,' he said.

'We can only encourage operators to continue to be generous with transport cuts.'

Mr Zaqy Mohamad, MP for Hong Kah GRC, said it is a longstanding issue that dates back to his university days more than 10 years ago.

'I think the poly kids have justification for (asking for fairer fares),' Mr Zaqy said. 'Transport companies have their own reasoning, but this is a huge group we're talking about.'

Mr Zaqy and other MPs suggested other ways to take the issue forward.

Rather than online petitions, Mr Zaqy feels that active dialogue between the student bodies and transport companies will be more useful.

Mr Zainudin Nordin, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, does not think petitions will work either.

He said polytechnic students should work through their student unions and present their case through proper channels.

To strengthen the argument that polytechnic students belong in the same age group as JC students, Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong said: 'What the students can do is to show a breakdown of how many students have gone from O levels to polytechnic.'

Still, the final decision rests with the transport operators, he added.

Additional reporting by Navin Vijay Wadhwani and Kueh Xiu Qing, newsroom interns

This article was first published in The New Paper on Dec 03, 2008.