Korea Expressway Corporation Plans to End Highway Commuting Discounts Starting Next Year

On the 29th of last month, one day before the Chuseok holiday, the southbound lanes of Seo-Pyeongtaek IC on the Seohaean Expressway were congested with vehicles heading home, as seen from a police helicopter. [Aerial photography cooperation: Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Aviation Unit, Officer Sim Dong-guk] / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Korea Expressway Corporation is reportedly preparing plans to partially abolish some highway toll discount systems, including the commuter discount, starting next year.

According to an internal report titled 'Selection and Management Plan for 50 Major Highway New Deal Tasks' submitted by the Expressway Corporation to Kim Yoon-duk, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the corporation is understood to plan to abolish some highway toll discount systems, including the commuter discount system, from next year to improve its financial structure.

One of the representative highway toll discount systems, the 'commuter discount system,' offers a 50% discount on tolls between 5-7 AM and 8-10 PM, and a 20% discount between 7-9 AM and 6-8 PM, for sections under 20 km based on the distance between entry and exit toll gates on expressways managed by the corporation. The scale of toll discounts under this system amounted to about 182,000 vehicles and 66 billion KRW last year.

In addition, the Expressway Corporation is understood to plan to reduce some discounts for compact cars, including excluding discounts for 'multiple vehicles per household compact cars' since 2022. Conversely, benefits such as abolishing weekend surcharges and introducing discounts for multi-child families are also being prepared.

The Expressway Corporation stated regarding the reduction plan of toll discounts, "It is to enhance the policy effectiveness of the discount system and maintain an appropriate discount level in the long term to secure the corporation's financial soundness," and projected a financial structure improvement effect of 130 billion KRW through the reduction of toll discount systems.

This year, the Expressway Corporation expects a revenue decrease of 566.6 billion KRW due to a decline in main income sources, requiring an additional borrowing of 765.3 billion KRW. However, since the effect of highway toll discounts amounts to 200-300 billion KRW annually, concerns are rising that the financial stability of the corporation may impose burdens on low-income citizens.

Kim Yoon-duk, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Provided by Kim Yoon-duk's Office)

Assemblyman Kim Yoon-duk stated, "The majority of commuters on highways are low-income citizens, so abolishing the commuter discount system should never happen," and added, "The restructuring of discount systems or toll fee systems should not shift the corporation's debt burden onto low-income citizens, and the Expressway Corporation should present more structural financial restructuring plans."