Free public transport for SA high school students would ease cost of living pressures.
A poll of more than 912 South Australian high school students reveals free access to public transport would ease cost of living pressures on many families, while also enabling some students to participate in school, sport and other extra-curricular activities they currently forego.
Students described the stress of finding money to pay for their bus and train fares to get them to and from school, work, sport, and other extra-curricular commitments as being at an all-time high. Other stresses associated with finding fares included managing MetroCard levels so as not to risk incurring fare evasion fines, having an over reliance on parents and carers for transport, and struggling with a general lack of mobility and autonomy as a result.
Members of the SA SRC’s Free Fares for our Future campaign are highlighting that current fare subsidies, although in existence, do not go far enough, particularly for less financially secure young people whose families do not have sufficient funds to absorb cost of living pressures. These young people are foregoing involvement in sport, school excursions and other social and recreational opportunities that their peers enjoy because the cost of their transport to and from school must be prioritised over these other expenses.
Read the full Media Release here.
Read the full position brief here.
