to all polytechnics students
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sign the petition----> HERE
Fair fares for all students
Pair lobby online, draw up petition for equal transport rates
Monday • March 21, 2005
Patricia Yap
[email protected]
TWO 18-year-old polytechnic students are agitating online for lower public transport fares for all polytechnic students.
Ngee Ann Polytechnic students Pang Khin Wee and Liang Yu Qing want TransitLink to grant the same fare concessions to those studying in polytechnics, as they do to junior college and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students.
To this end, they have started an online petition to garner support from students who feel it is unfair for concessions to be given only to junior college and ITE students, who are in the same age group as polytechnic students.
Mr Pang and Mr Liang have also written to TransitLink to offer their views on the situation.
Currently, polytechnic students can buy Bus Concession Passes (BCP), Train Concession Passes or Hybrid Concession Passes (HCP), for $52, $45 and $97, respectively, and they will be charged adult fares if they travel without the passes.
In comparison, secondary school, junior college and ITE students are charged student rates — almost half those of adult rates — even if they do not buy the passes.
The concession passes for these students range from $27.50 for a BCP to $52.50 for an HCP.
Within a week of the launch of the online petition on March 11, about 5,800 students from polytechnics and junior colleges had signed up to support the cause.
Comments such as "polytechnic students are students too" and "our school fees already cost so much; must transport fares be so expensive too?" were pasted all over the site when Today visited it yesterday.
"We are already charged so much for our education. The least that can be done to ease our financial burden is to lower transport costs," said Liang, who spends more than a third of his $200 monthly allowance on transport. His father was retrenched recently and the cost of transport has put a strain on his family's budget.
Said Pang: "We enrolled in polytechnic because we had a passion for the courses available. It's not our choice that the institution is labelled tertiary.
"Tertiary or not, we are still students."
Even junior college students are pitching in. Sim Wei Yow, a second-year student from Pioneer Junior College, signed the petition without hesitation, although the issue does not affect him directly.
He said: "I think it's quite unfair that my friends, who are the same age as I am but studying in polytechnics, have to pay a lot more than I do, even if we are going to the same places."
In response to the petition, a TransitLink spokesperson said eligibility for student travel concession on public buses and trains was not pegged solely to the student's age but also based on the "level of academic pursuit and the institutions in which they are enrolled".
According to TransitLink, polytechnics and universities are officially grouped as tertiary institutions, whereas junior colleges and ITEs are grouped under the secondary-school category.
"Nevertheless, we have taken note of the views submitted by the students. They will be considered when we next review concession fares," the spokesperson said. -
wah i see this everywhere..friendster, email, forums also
Anyway I've signed.
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x2Originally posted by BlTCHY_BlTCH:cos they sux.
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Ya sighed, but i wonder how effective online petitions are
Can we at the same time get a petition for fairer fares for students of NUS, NTU and SMU as well? -
"Nevertheless, we have taken note of the views submitted by the students. They will be considered when we next review concession fares," the spokesperson said.
Do they review concession fares in the first place?Thot they only review Adult fare? -
ALL teritary students are considered students no matter what, as long is under the government, should the transport fares be lowered for as We, students have paid a high tuition fees than JC and ITE. This will ease our burden in it... In future We the younger generation will be taking over Singapore. The Ministers should this as an BIG ISSUE... LOWERED THE FARES TO THE SAME LEVEL AS THE JC AND ITE... GOD DAMMED U TO THE PERSON WHO IS NOT CONSIDERED OF LOWERING IT
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ALL teritary students are considered students no matter what, as long is under the government, should the transport fares be lowered for as We, students have paid a high tuition fees than JC and ITE. This will ease our burden in it... In future We the younger generation will be taking over Singapore. The Ministers should this as an BIG ISSUE... LOWERED THE FARES TO THE SAME LEVEL AS THE JC AND ITE... GOD DAMMED U TO THE PERSON WHO IS NOT CONSIDERED OF LOWERING IT
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Originally posted by Rusesabagina:
another way to divert the question by not answering the question directly.
"Nevertheless, we have taken note of the views submitted by the students. They will be considered [b]when we next review concession fares," the spokesperson said.
Do they review concession fares in the first place?Thot they only review Adult fare?[/b]
Also may mean to tell the students to wait long long
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Eligible signatories: Students of Singaporean Polytechnics
why limit to the students? Those working adults cannot sign meh -
yeah, I feel under represented ...Originally posted by SnowFlag:why limit to the students? Those working adults cannot sign meh -
All sign, all sign. The more the better.Originally posted by SnowFlag:why limit to the students? Those working adults cannot sign meh 
Never say current students or those who have already graduated mah... all sign, all sign. Those future students and those waiting to go in this year also sign. -
Come on you guys..University students too..Let's chip in!
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u all should have started this 5 years ago.
now it's too late.
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Originally posted by Gordonator:u all should have started this 5 years ago.
now it's too late.
not too late...
if they really adjust the fares, benefit me and lots others mah -
er..side track a little...i am still using my poly ez-link card as an adult ez-link card but it says the expiry date is apr 2005. how to renew it? anyone oso face the same thing?
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if u still poly then i think they will auto renew, u not poly liao they wun renew for u.Same as me my secondary school ex link expired but still using it but paying adult fare.but until july then cannot use liao.The only way is to go JC or ITE.Originally posted by huiz:er..side track a little...i am still using my poly ez-link card as an adult ez-link card but it says the expiry date is apr 2005. how to renew it? anyone oso face the same thing? -
i graduated more than 1 yr liao & ard last yr my ez-link card oso says wanna expire liao. but i continue using then i discovered it was automatically renewed liao. dunno if this will be the case again.Originally posted by Rusesabagina:if u still poly then i think they will auto renew, u not poly liao they wun renew for u.Same as me my secondary school ex link expired but still using it but paying adult fare.but until july then cannot use liao.The only way is to go JC or ITE. -
can continue using but cannot buy concession.Originally posted by huiz:i graduated more than 1 yr liao & ard last yr my ez-link card oso says wanna expire liao. but i continue using then i discovered it was automatically renewed liao. dunno if this will be the case again. -
i will sign it once i get into poly..afew months ltr..
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i think shld create a new petition. for us jc students not in jc for the 1st 3 months. had to pay adult fare during the period.
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can extend the date line mahOriginally posted by skyfoo:i think shld create a new petition. for us jc students not in jc for the 1st 3 months. had to pay adult fare during the period.