In a bid to institutionalize the 20-percent student fare discount enforced in all public utility vehicles, the Senate agreed yesterday to pass the bill expanding the discount to all means of transportation, including land, air, water, and railway, all year round.
Once the Senate Bill 1597 is enacted into law, students can use their discount for a fixed rate of fees in a wider range of transportation utilities, both private and public vehicles. Students covered are those in elementary, high school, college, and technical-vocation programs.
“Even with the free tuition, we need to help families with daily school expenses. Ang matitipid sa pamasahe ay makatutulong para sa iba pang gastusin at pangangailan ng ating mga mag-aaral,” Sen. Sonny Angara, principal author of the bill, said in a statement.
The discount, in line with the October 2017 memorandum enforced by the Land Transport and Franchising Board, shall be effective throughout the year, even during summer breaks, semestral breaks, holidays, and weekends.
Included under the land transport utility vehicles covered by the discount are buses, jeepneys, taxis, tricycles, shuttle services, UV Express vans, transport network companies, transport network vehicles, and public and private railways like the Metro Rail Transit, Light Rail Transit, and Philippine National Railways.
A good addition to the discount’s coverage is the inclusion of domestic air and sea travel, which students are also authorized to use their discounts to, as long as they can present their duly issued identification cards or validated enrollment forms. Double discounts, however, are prohibited so this cannot be used with other fare promos. It can only be applied to the “base fare before taxes and costs for ancillary services.”
A travel tax exemption is applied to students who are traveling internationally for school-related events.
All transportation utilities that refuse to grant proper discounts will be penalized with a fine ranging from P5,000 to P200,000.
Header photo courtesy of Inquirer.net
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