Sunday, February 08, 2009

i vaguely remember that a similar online petition by poly students for 'fairer' transport fares was conducted years ago.

what i remembered clearly was that the proposal was dropped.

now they are back again, and their arguments are:
a. they are paying > 80% more than their counterparts who are in jc or ite
b. a bandwidth of fare should be used
c. they are s-t-u-d-e-n-t-s so they should not be paying so much just because they are so calle 'tertiary students'

in this issue, my stand is with the government.

if poly students think that they are paying more for transport fees because they are tertiary students, they are absolutely correct! this is because jc and ite are so called 'higher secondary or higher institutions of learning' and they are very much under the spectrum of the ministry of education. unlike poly and uni the classification is 'tertiary' so naturally they cannot be enjoying the same rates.

if their unhappiness is because their counterparts of the same age are paying so much less in transport, they ought to understand that they are learning in institutions that prepares them for the workforce, unlike jc where the students are just 'preparing themselves for higher institutions of learning'. so age should not be a reason for comparison. you need to compare apple to apple and not apple to orange!

lastly if poly students are 'students' then uni students are also 'students' right? if they get the additional concession, it will cause a chain reaction and uni students will do something similar as well, and to be fair to them, all have to enjoy the same level of concession right?

actually what they failed to realise:
a. there is already a form of concession for the students, ie monthly concession pass which caps the max fare for the month irregardless of travelling amount.
b. it is their responsibility to make sure they make the most of their concession. although it may be faster to transfer train to bus and so on, is that the only way to travel? is there alternative by changing buses instead although it may take a slightly longer time? we have to give and take right?


of course, i hope that the fares in general will fall, benefiting everyone in the process...

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