A lawmaker on Sunday is pushing for amendments to Republic Act 11314 or the Student Fare Discount Act to ensure that online tickets purchased by students — which do not allow them to acquire their 20 percent discount off their regular domestic rates for all public transit — could now also be discounted.
Isabela Representative Faustino Dy stressed that the amendment would ensure that students can still receive a 20 percent discount on their transportation tickets even if they were purchased online.
RA 1134 was signed into law on 17 April 2019 by former President Rodrigo Duterte, which grants students a 20 percent discount on all public utility vehicles as long as they present their school IDs.
The law, however, requires students to present their school identification card in person, which makes them unable to avail of the benefit when purchasing their tickets online.
“Because of this, when students reload their Beep cards, for example, or buy a plane ticket to go home to their provinces or go back to school using technology, they no longer benefit from the discount,” Dy said.
The lawmaker’s House Bill 1142, or the “Student Fare Discount Act of 2022”, would amend Section 5 of RA 11314 to ensure that discounts are available at all times, particularly in light of the fare increase caused by the persistent oil price hike.
“This is an exception that doesn’t make sense, and disincentivizes the use of technology when in fact we must push for its more widespread adoption,” Dy said.
“In case of transportation tickets purchased online, the students are also entitled to the 20 percent fare discount, subject to verification provided in the IRR and the presentation of their duly issued school identification cards or current valid enrollment form upon purchase of the tickets online,” he added, referring to the proposed amendment.