news
Unanswered questions
about discount tickets
By AILEEN MACALINTAL
A government scheme to presell discounted pre-paid public transport concessions to international students, has been labelled‘ unfair’ by education providers and student groups.
New South Wales Department of Transport launched the scheme late last year, promising discounts of up to 35 per cent on 90-day and annual MyMulti2 and MyMulti3 travel passes to international students.
But these discounts have proved less than enticing to many international students, said Aleem Nizari, president of Council of International Students Australia( CISA).
Nizari said many students still do not have access to the tickets, as they are only available from institutions, who may not pre-order the discounted MyMulti 2 and MyMulti3 semi-annual and annual tickets because of the upfront cost.
He said many institutions have“ unanswered questions” about the scheme, and have not sought to obtain these tickets from the transport authority.
According to Phil Honeywood, executive director of the International Education Association of Australia, no real incentives have been provided to promote the sale of the tickets.
“ Given that education providers are required to pre-purchase these tickets in bulk and then on-sell them to their students, there is a clear upfront cost that providers do not believe they should bear,” said Honeywood.
“ The NSW Government must sit down with education providers and representatives of international students to streamline the implementation hurdles that are currently dampening demand,” he said.
“ While it is early days yet, clearly the market is voting with its feet in not embracing what was promoted as a great service to international students.”
Honeywood said that while any reduction in transport costs was better than full fare,“ this NSW initiative is very much about proving to international students that they are respected, it will need to provide meaningful benefits in order for the rhetoric to prove to be reality”.
Nizari said:“ We are hoping that they will conduct a review, to make improvements to the current pilot program which has introduced these‘ discounted tickets’.”
Paying for these tickets upfront may also be difficult for international students, he said,“ as it is a large sum, not knowing whether it would be worthwhile for them, as most of them do not know how far or how close to their institution they would be residing.”
He said it was unfair that international students must pay a large sum up-front for tickets with maximum discount of 35 per cent, while domestic students can obtain tickets with a discount of 50 per cent daily, from public ticketing booths and machines.
“ CISA strongly believes that there should not be two different travel concession systems for international and domestic students, but one system available for all students studying at any registered education provider,” Nizari said.
He said the transport authority needs to look at how other states such as Queensland and Western Australia operate their concession system for students.
A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said the department had“ no sales expectations for the new product, but is pleased that over 2600 international students have taken up the opportunity to purchase discounted travel tickets for the first time.”
He said sales are expected to grow during the year, particularly for the quarterly products.
The new travel discount scheme follows on the heels of the NSW government’ s International Education and Research Taskforce report in late 2012, which recommended the government and industry help make NSW a global leader in international education by 2021.
Aside from increasing NSW’ s attractiveness as a location for further education, the new concession is aimed at providing better access to safe, affordable public transport for overseas students.
According to the Transport for NSW’ s website, MyMulti passes offer unlimited travel on buses, Sydney Ferries, the Stockton Ferry and light rail services in greater Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra, as well as unlimited travel on some train services. n
www. campusreview. com. au April 2013 | 7