Unlimited monthly transit passes may soon be a thing in Seoul

A person uess a card to get to the subway platform in Seoul Station on Aug. 29. [NEWS1]

Unlimited transportation passes may soon be a reality for Seoulites, according to a recent announcement by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The city's announcement came as local media outlets reported on Friday that officials from related authorities, including the Seoul city government, Gyeonggi Provincial Government, Incheon Metropolitan Government and Korea Railroad Corporation, on Thursday discussed expanding the potential implementation of the pass to include the greater Seoul area, which encompasses Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon.

However, the city government said Friday that the implementation of the unlimited pass is under discussion, and nothing has been confirmed regarding the boundaries of its usage.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is expected to reveal further details of the unlimited transportation passes during a press briefing on Monday.

The city government expects the passes will benefit those with low disposable income, such as students.

If the plan is implemented, the price of these passes is expected to range from 50,000 to 70,000 won ($37 to $52) a month.

Seoul Metro, the operator of the capital's subways, currently offers similar monthly commuter passes, but they are limited to a maximum of 60 rides per month and cannot be used on buses.

The city’s consideration of implementing the scheme comes after it raised base bus fares from 1,200 won to 1,500 won last month due to snowballing deficits.

The deficits were mainly caused by a nationwide welfare policy that offers free rides to senior citizens and people with disabilities, as well as the transfer system that allows people to transfer to another mode of public transportation within 30 minutes of disembarking from another for no extra charge.

The accumulated deficit of Seoul Metro rose to over 17 trillion won after seeing around 640 billion won in losses last year.

The base subway fares in the city are scheduled to rise again from the current 1,250 won to 1,400 won on Oct. 7.

The slow recovery of people’s usage of public transportation is another reason for the deficit.

The number of passengers using public transport in Seoul dropped significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The figure was 25 percent lower than that of 2019 in both 2020 and 2021, and eased slightly to be 17 percent lower in 2022.

Last month, Seoul Metro also announced it would offer single-day and three-day subway passes in the latter half of the year.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]