Use of Metropolitan Altteul Transportation Card Becomes More Convenient

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The issuance of the Metropolitan Discount Transportation Card (Altteul Card), which can reduce the burden of public transportation costs, will become more convenient.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Wide Transportation Committee announced on the 29th that it will improve user convenience by diversifying the issuance methods of the Altteul Card, which is being promoted as a national project to revitalize public transportation and reduce transportation costs.

The Altteul Card is a project that encourages cost savings and increased use of public transportation by providing mileage proportional to walking and bicycle travel distances when using public transportation. It is currently implemented in 128 cities, counties, and districts, with a total of about 150,000 users.

First, the 'Mobile-type Zero Pay Altteul Card,' which allows card issuance and use solely via smartphone, was newly launched on the 25th through collaboration between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Seoul City. Previously, to use the Altteul Card, users had to receive a physical card. However, the newly launched mobile-type Zero Pay Altteul Card enables more convenient use from card issuance to fare charging and public transportation use without a physical card, all via smartphone.

This Zero Pay Altteul Card adopts a prepaid charging method. Accordingly, many citizens who previously had difficulty using postpaid credit or debit cards due to credit conditions are expected to be able to use it. The Zero Pay Altteul Card can be issued through the T-money Pay application, and after entering the card number in the app, it can be used. However, it is only supported on Android smartphones.

Mileage accumulation for the Zero Pay Altteul Card is currently possible only when used in the metropolitan area and the Daejeon-Sejong area, where T-money operates the transportation card infrastructure. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to expand the usage areas to other regions in the future.

Also, the issuance of physical cards, which was previously only possible via the internet, will now be available through bank counters and telephone. Accordingly, users can subscribe through the websites and phone services of Shinhan, Woori, and Hana Cards, as well as the counters of Shinhan, Woori, and Hana Banks linked to these services. This is expected to allow citizens who had difficulty using the internet and could not reduce their public transportation costs to more conveniently obtain the card.

Ji Jongcheol, Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Policy Bureau at the Metropolitan Area Wide Transportation Committee, said, "We plan to improve the system so that users can use the Altteul Card more conveniently," and "we will continue to make efforts so that citizens who feel burdened by essential public transportation expenses can experience the benefits of the Altteul Card."