Efforts to ease travel burden

The State Government will introduce changes to a public-transport concession system this year in an effort to help families and students save time and money.

Public Transport Minister Melissa Horne said from term one, school students would be able to use their Public Transport Victoria-approved school identification card to get concession travel on public transport.

She said the change would mean students at participating schools no longer needed to arrange, pay for and carry the dedicated PTV School Student Identification.

“Allowing the use of PTV-APproved school identification will mean students will not need to obtain passport photos and pay for the card,” she said.

“The change will save families up to $30 a year for each student.”

Ms Horne said the use of Ptv-approved school identification cards to prove concession eligibility was an interim step in simplifying student identification requirements, while more sustainable solutions were being developed.

She said more affordable regional student passes would also be available from term one, which would increase the discount for regional students to 50 percent of the yearly cost of concession travel.