[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province will allow local children and adolescents to use city buses free of charge. The free bus policy for children and adolescents is the first case nationwide, and the province emphasizes that it has completed the ‘Chungnam-type transportation welfare’ that it has been promoting through this.
On the 1st, the province announced that it will implement a policy to make bus fares free for children and adolescents under the age of 18 starting from that day. The free bus fare project is implemented in cooperation between the province and 15 cities and counties with the purpose of guaranteeing the mobility rights of children and adolescents, expanding transportation welfare, revitalizing public transportation, and realizing a low-cost society.
The beneficiaries of the project are 142,682 children aged 6 to 12 and 118,108 adolescents aged 13 to 18 residing in the region, totaling 260,790 people. In addition, children under the age of 5 can use the bus free of charge when accompanied by a guardian according to the Passenger Transport Service Act.
The free bus fare is carried out by having the eligible users first pay the bus fare using the ‘Chungnam-type Altteul Transportation Card’ and then receive a refund for up to three rides per day.
Through this, the province expects that adolescents can receive support of 360,000 KRW per person annually. This is based on an average of 301.9 bus rides per adolescent per year and a bus fare of 1,180 KRW per ride according to the card.
The budget to be invested in the free bus fare project this year is a total of 19.2 billion KRW (for 9 months), and the estimated budget needed next year is 21.6 billion KRW. The related budget will be shared equally by the province and the cities/counties, each bearing 50%.
This project also signifies the completion of the region-specific transportation welfare that the province has been promoting. Previously, in July 2019, the province was the first nationwide to implement free bus fares for seniors aged 75 and over. Then, in July 2020, registered disabled persons and national merit recipients were included as beneficiaries of the free bus fare project, and last July, the project was further expanded to include the bereaved families of national merit recipients.
The free bus fare project for seniors aged 75 and over, which the province started first, was also operated using the ‘Chungnam-type Altteul Transportation Card.’ As of the end of last year, among the total 304,353 beneficiaries, 199,080 people (66.2%) had been issued the ‘Chungnam-type Altteul Transportation Card.’
Also, the number of times these beneficiaries used city and rural buses was 35,143,698 times as of the end of last month, averaging 5.7 rides per month.
The province expects that through this project, it can alleviate household transportation costs, provide financial support to bus transportation companies, and contribute to carbon neutrality through the revitalization of public transportation.
Yang Seung-jo, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, “The free bus fare project is the fruit of Chungnam’s will and efforts to guarantee the mobility rights of transportation-vulnerable groups and to lead domestic transportation welfare. I hope that the newly expanded free bus fare project will provide local children and adolescents with opportunities to go back and forth between home and school without worrying about bus fares and to freely explore the region with their families and friends.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
