For many university students, discounted public transport fares are a valuable perk helping to keep costs low. But a significant number of students aren't eligible for the discount. Online and part-time students are among those not allowed to access the cheaper fares and there's calls for that to change, to help those juggling work and study.
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00:00 As a South Australian University student, Rhianna Hilditch thought she was eligible
00:06 for cheaper public transport fares, but that changed when she was confronted by officials
00:10 on an Adelaide train.
00:12 She just pulled out a piece of paper out of her pocket and just pointed at it and said
00:16 "Nope, not online students, you see it there."
00:18 Like many university students, Ms Hilditch balances a job with her study to help her
00:22 pay the bills.
00:24 But because she studies online, she's ineligible for the discounted student fare offered by
00:28 Adelaide Metro.
00:29 It felt like I was being told I wasn't a valid student, like I wasn't putting in 20-25 hours
00:35 a week of study.
00:37 Online, part-time, interstate and correspondence studies students are not eligible for Adelaide
00:42 Metro's student concession.
00:44 With significant numbers of students now studying off campus, some say it's time for that rule
00:49 to change.
00:50 A lot of online students, they'll seek out study hubs, they'll go to local libraries
00:54 to study.
00:55 Scrapping public transport fees of course would be an easy solution to fixing some of
01:00 the problems with the concession system.
01:02 South Australia's transport minister says he'll consider making part-time on-campus
01:07 students eligible for the concession.
01:09 But he's defending the policy to prevent online students from accessing the discount.
01:13 But if you are full-time online, I don't think it really justifies it.
01:17 I'm prepared to sort of die in a ditch here on this.
01:20 Public transport is already subsidised within nearly 98% of its cost.
01:25 A position likely to leave some remote students frustrated.
01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]