[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]Are new fares necessary?

A new fare system based on the distance traveled will be introduced soon.
The basic fare of buses and subway will go up to 800 won. For every five kilometers traveled on the subway, one will have to pay 100 won.
The Seoul metropolitan government says that since 87 percent of public transportation users travel in 10 km radius within the city, this new system will be more efficient.
But I have strong doubts about about the 87 percent figure. In our house, except for my children who attend elementary school, it takes the adults about an hour to get to work and back.
Several questions to consider:
All those people who live in the outskirts of Seoul, such as Bundang, Ilsan or cities in Gyeonggi province that are close to the capital, such as Asan and Suwon ― would this new system be fair to them?
In this period of economic hardship, is it really necessary to increase the public transportation fees 25 percent? Is this new fare system really necessary?
If this new system was created to make our lives more efficient, why get rid of the middle/high school student’s discount and college student discount?
I wonder how many of the people who came up with this new law travel by public transportation.
How many people actually go to work in downtown Seoul but live in the outskirts of the city?
I hope that policy making would be based more on experience than on desk theory.

by Internet reader