"20% Monthly Public Transportation Cost Savings After Altteul Transportation Card Implementation"

Daegwangwi Expands Discounted Transportation Card and Metropolitan Bus Semi-Public Operation System

Savings on Public Transportation Costs After the Implementation of the Altteul Transportation Card / Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Since the implementation of the Altteul Transportation Card project, users' average monthly public transportation expenses have been reduced by 20%.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Committee announced on the 13th that, as a result of the Altteul Transportation Card implementation, the average monthly public transportation cost per user decreased from 63,691 KRW to 50,829 KRW last year, saving approximately 20% (12,862 KRW).

In particular, youths aged 19 to 34 with an income below 50% of the median income, who receive additional mileage, saved an average of 14,721 KRW per month (10,751 KRW in mileage, 3,970 KRW in card discounts), which corresponds to a 26.2% reduction in public transportation expenses.

The Altteul Transportation Card was introduced as a pilot project in 2018 and has since expanded to 16 cities and provinces, including the entire Seoul metropolitan area. The number of users increased significantly from 2,000 in 2018 to 160,000 by the end of last year, and approximately 210,000 users are currently using the card as of this month.

Regarding the expansion of metropolitan buses, one of the detailed national agenda projects, the Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Committee established a foundation for metropolitan bus services by introducing a quasi-public metropolitan bus system based on a bidding method.

Through this, the number of M bus routes increased from 22 in 2017 to 42 last year, and support for additional operations using charter buses reached 11 routes and 44 trips per day last year.

Lee Yoon-sang, Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Policy Bureau at the committee, stated, “This year, we plan to prepare a mid- to long-term plan to lead changes in metropolitan transportation, while actively discovering citizen-centered policies that cannot be proposed or resolved by a single metropolitan local government and promoting service improvements.”

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