$1.17 Billion Lost Due to Inefficient Operation of Seoul Subway

In the National Assembly's probe into the Seoul government, the lawmaker Kim Ok-doo of the National Congress for New Politics insisted on October 8 that the government will have lost 1.4 trillion won ($1.17 billion) by the end of this year because it miscalculated the number of passengers carried by its number 5, 7 and 8 subway lines.
The lawmaker pointed out that the Seoul Government has posted $1.17-billion-worth of losses due to excessive facility investment and labor costs in the construction and operation of its subway lines up until the year's end because the average number of passengers per day carried by the subway lines amounted to 1.199 million, only 46 percent of the number originally estimated by the government.
He also said that the government's financial crisis in the subway management is partly attributable to the inefficient operation of the lines, although the government has been faced with financial difficulties stemmming from having borne the total cost of construction of the number 1, 2, 3 and 4 subway lines.
Seo Jang-soo:jsbee@joongang.co.kr