Busan City Urges Government Support for Losses from Free Rides on Urban Rail Transit

Government: "Difficult to Support Legal Fare Evasion Losses in Urban Rail"

Legal Fare Evasion, National Subsidy for Public Service Cost Compensation Legislation

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City has argued that losses from free rides on urban rail should be supported by national funds through the legalization of state support.

The city stated that due to the rapid aging of the population and the recent increase in risk factors such as COVID-19, the cumulative deficit of Busan Urban Rail last year surged to 344.9 billion KRW, with free ride costs amounting to 123.4 billion KRW, seriously threatening the financial soundness of local governments.

Busan City Hall.

Until now, Busan City has continuously worked to establish a legal basis for supporting losses from statutory free rides on urban rail and to secure national funding. However, the government has maintained the position that it cannot support local government losses from free rides, citing reasons such as ▲free rides being a local government matter, ▲issues of fairness with cities that do not operate urban rail, and ▲some projects like the replacement of aging trains receiving national funding.

In response, the city argued against the government’s stance by stating that free rides on urban rail are ▲a universal transportation welfare policy implemented under government policies and laws before local autonomy, acting on behalf of the state, ▲the population of cities operating urban rail accounts for about 70% (34.71 million) of the total population, and with the expansion of routes, fairness issues no longer arise, and ▲some national funding projects cannot be a fundamental solution to losses from free rides.

Jung Im-su, Director of the City Transportation Bureau, said, “The statutory free ride system is a national welfare system targeting all citizens under government policies and laws. According to the principle of the polluter pays, appropriate government support for free ride costs is natural,” and urged “the government to adopt a positive attitude.”