Eunpyeong-gu Accelerates Efforts to Identify Blind Spots in Fare Reduction for Vulnerable Groups

Relieving Work Overload Through Personnel and Equipment Support for Survey Tasks... Planned Support to Identify Households Unable to Receive Fee Reductions Without Special Reasons

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong District

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) has been intensifying its efforts in the investigation to identify blind spots in the fee reduction system, which has been prepared since February.

To conduct the investigation, on March 2, 27 survey personnel were hired and deployed through public job projects by neighborhood, and equipment such as computers and telephones were provided to carry out the survey tasks, alleviating the workload of the neighborhood community centers. In addition, they are doing their best to revitalize the local economy by securing local jobs.

The fee reduction system targets include 64,277 households and 83,069 people who are basic livelihood security recipients, lower-income groups, disabled persons, and basic pension recipients. A full survey of the reduction status by household over the past two weeks confirmed that 70% received reductions in mobile communication fees, 75% in electricity fees, 71% in gas fees, and 61% in water fees, with an average reduction rate of 70% across all fees.

The non-reduced cases were identified as 25,557 people for mobile communication fees, 5,720 households for electricity fees, 6,621 households for gas fees, and 5,989 households for water fees. From February 15 to 26, over two weeks, proactive guidance led to the agency processing 1,939 reduction applications, which is 5% of the non-reduced cases.

The reasons for non-application include, for mobile communication fees, cases where application is not possible due to infants, elderly, severe patients, duplicate discounts, or poor credit. For electricity, gas, and water fees, non-application cases were often among residents of lodging facilities such as goshiwon, free rental residents, joint fee payers, and users of diesel or LPG.

In particular, for water fees, many households pay fees jointly, resulting in a higher non-application rate compared to other fees. Also, the fee calculation methods vary by building and household, so the actual fee reduction benefits are not properly reflected.

Furthermore, Eunpyeong-gu plans to conduct a full survey of non-applying households by the first half of the year to identify and support households that do not receive fee reductions without special reasons. Together with the Small but Certain Happiness (So-hwak-haeng) Special Committee, the Good Local Government Council, and the National Association of Mayors, Governors, and District Heads, they will continue discussions on legal amendments for automatic reductions and system improvements by reasons for non-reduction to minimize blind spots caused by the application-based system.

Mayor Kim Mi-kyung stated, “Through this investigation, we will do our best to establish a permanent system so that the fee reduction benefits returned to Eunpyeong-gu residents do not remain one-time but take root as small but certain support policies for neighbors in need.”

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