Students push for discounts on train

NOT CHEAP: Tertiary students travelling to Wellington say fares are too high for them.PHOTO/ANDREW BONALLACK

Holding a tertiary student ID has many perks - discounted movie tickets and cheap gym memberships - but they are useless for Wairarapa students commuting by train to the capital.

University and polytechnic students using the Wairarapa Tranz Metro line are required to pay full adult price while secondary students pay the child price, a discount of 50 per cent.

The cheapest option for students travelling to Wellington from Masterton is to buy a monthly pass for $432. The same pass for children, including secondary school students with school ID, is $216.

One Victoria University student who commutes three times a week from Carterton thinks this is "the stupidest thing in the world".

"God knows why you give high school students - who live with parents who still pay for just about everything they do - cheaper rides and not tertiary students who are making pretty much no money," Simon Switzer, 20, said.

However, regional council spokesman Paul Kos said if tertiary students were subsidised other transport users or ratepayers would have to foot the bill.

"There are a lot of other people on low incomes who use public transport regularly and if students paid less, other public transport users would have to cover the shortfall by paying more."

He said the council wanted to avoid "picking winners or losers" by increasing rates or fares to pay for cheaper tertiary tickets.

Mr Kos said he appreciated the problem of affordability for students and the authority was working with the local council and tertiary education institutions on options to share the cost of a subsidy.

"We're also considering introducing discounted fares for all off-peak travel when we bring in a new integrated fares and ticketing system, around 2018, which many tertiary students could benefit from."

In the meantime, students spoken to by the Wairarapa Times-Age, who live at home to save on expensive Wellington rent and to keep their part-time jobs, remain frustrated.

Driving instead of taking the train into the city is not the solution for many of these students due to problems of traffic and parking.

Mr Switzer said he felt frustrated at having to spend so much for transport on top of the amount he already pays for university costs but the sacrifice was necessary in order to complete his studies.

As a bachelor of commerce student he understood the business case of charging tertiary students full price.

"They know tertiary students need to ride on the train and they see that as an opportunity to make money."

Lowering the ticket prices would attract more passengers, he said. "So they won't lose money but they would be helping people."