Effect of Expressway Tolling on Travel Restrictions: "Yes" 47.7% vs "No" 49.9%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Opinions are sharply divided on the effectiveness of the government policy to charge tolls on expressways in order to reduce travel during the Chuseok holiday.

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter on the 18th at the request of YTN's "The News," 47.7% of respondents said the toll charges would have an impact on limiting travel, while 49.9% said there would be no impact, the results were announced on the 21st. Those who answered "Don't know" accounted for 2.4%.

The government had exempted expressway tolls during holiday periods since 2017, but this Chuseok, it decided to charge tolls to minimize the risk of a resurgence of COVID-19 due to large-scale population movement.

By region, in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (48.9% said "will have an impact" vs. 49.9% "will not have an impact"), Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (46.7% vs. 51.7%), Gwangju and Jeolla (46.3% vs. 49.4%), and Seoul (46.2% vs. 50.2%), opinions on the degree of impact were nearly evenly split. In contrast, in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (57.0% vs. 43.0%), more respondents said "will have an impact," whereas in Gyeonggi and Incheon (44.0% vs. 54.0%), more said "will not have an impact," showing a contrast.

By age group, responses were closely divided among those in their 60s (50.7% "will have an impact" vs. 47.4% "will not"), 50s (48.5% vs. 50.9%), and 30s (48.2% vs. 49.2%). Those aged 70 and above (57.0% vs. 35.3%) and those in their 40s (54.8% vs. 44.1%) mostly said "will have an impact," while those in their 20s (30.3% vs. 67.7%) overwhelmingly said "will not have an impact."

By political party support, supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea (60.7% "will have an impact" vs. 38.0% "will not") mostly believed there would be an impact, whereas supporters of the People Power Party (37.3% vs. 61.5%) mostly believed the opposite.

The survey contacted 8,167 adults nationwide aged 18 and over, with a final 500 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a response rate of 6.1%. The margin of error is ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.