Govt allocates $23M for student transport subsidies as fare increases

As student bus fares are now set to match adult fares from 1st September where the Government will cover the hike for students with blue and yellow bus cards, the total additional estimated cost for transportation subsidy for students is around $23 million for the 2024-2025 financial year.

This has been confirmed by the Ministry of Finance which says that with the doubling of student fares, the additional cost exposure for subsidised students with blue cards is projected to be around $18 million while the additional cost for non-subsidised students with yellow cards will be around $5 million.

They say as part of the Transport Assistance Programme, the Government currently fully subsidises the transportation cost for students from families with a household income of less than $16,000 per annum.

The Ministry says apart from bus services, this scheme also covers Rural Service License operators and boat services in the rural and maritime schools.

They say in this financial year, the Government has allocated a total budget of $37 million to cater for the transport assistance. There are currently about 90,000 students benefiting from this programme.

The Ministry says the current funding provision in the budget will accommodate the increased cost for approximately six to seven months of the new financial year and Cabinet has approved that additional funding will have to be sourced through a budget redeployment later during the year.

They add the subsidy will continue until further notice.