Students issued with blue bus cards, will not be able to use them during the school holidays because Vodafone will freeze leftover amounts on these cards.

Instead, students are advised to get red and yellow cards to supplement their travels during the school holidays.

These announcements were made by the Permanent Secretary for Education, Alison Burchell, at a press conference yesterday.

She said that from November 23 until the beginning of the first term next year, these cards cannot be used by anyone.

“It is important to note that these cards were issued to students primarily, to go to school and back home,” Ms Burchell said.

The ministry also highlighted that from the beginning of term one, restrictions would be placed on blue card users.

“They will be operational from 6:30 am till 9 am and from 2:30 pm till 5:30 pm. That will be on the weekdays,” Ms Burchell said.

Making reference to the Attorney-General’s budget announcement, she said that “there has been a lot of misuse of these blue cards”.

So far 143 cards that were thought to have been abused this year have been confiscated by the Land Transport Authority.

The Ministry of Education has noted that on Sundays a total transaction of $33,000 on these blue cards were made, on a weekday it is $64,000 and the average value of transactions happening after 5pm is $3000.

“So, if we start multiplying those figures, it comes up to a substantial amount of money,” she added.

Edited by Percy Kean

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