Busan City Children Enjoy Free Bus and Urban Railway Fares! ... First Among Special and Metropolitan Cities Starting from the 6th

Busan City will implement the "Full Fare Free Policy for Children’s Buses (City and Village) and Urban Rail" starting from the 6th, becoming the first special/metropolitan city to do so, as part of the "Busan-type Public Transportation Innovation Plan" announced last March.

This measure is part of Busan City's efforts to alleviate household burdens amid concerns that citizens' financial burdens will increase due to the fare hike for city buses and urban rail starting from the 6th.

The "Full Fare Free Policy for Children" expands the existing free public transportation fare, which was only applied to infants aged 0 to 5, to children aged 6 to 12. The applicable transportation modes include Busan city buses, village buses, and Busan urban rail.

Currently, the child fare is 350 KRW by transportation card (400 KRW in cash) for city buses, and for urban rail, 650 KRW (700 KRW in cash) for one section and 750 KRW (800 KRW in cash) for two sections.

The city expects that approximately 184,000 children will benefit from the full implementation of the free fare policy for children.

In 2022, the annual usage of city buses and urban rail by children was 7.08 million trips, averaging 19,400 trips per day. Assuming two rides per day, about 9,700 children use public transportation daily.

The fare waiver can be applied through a children's transportation card. If paying by cash, the fare must be paid as before.

Existing children's transportation cards can continue to be used. If you do not have a card, you can purchase one at a nearby convenience store, register the child's date of birth, and then use it, or register through the smartphone app (RokaM Recharge Station) before use.

How to Register a Children's Transportation Card.

This "Free Fare Policy for Children" is regarded as the beginning of Busan City's welfare policy in the transportation sector, which is grappling with low birth rates, and families with children are welcoming the implementation.

Although children account for about 2% of total public transportation trips, many children travel with family members, so this policy is expected to positively impact the increase in family-based public transportation users and align with Busan City's policy aiming to become a child-friendly city.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, "I hope this free fare policy for children will help ease household burdens caused by the ongoing high inflation," and added, "I ask families and schools to help children develop habits and education for using public transportation more comfortably."

From 4 a.m. on the 6th, fares for city buses (regular and seat buses) and urban rail will be increased. Based on transportation cards, the regular bus fare will increase by 350 KRW to 1,550 KRW, the seat bus fare will increase by 400 KRW to 2,100 KRW, and the urban rail fare will increase by 150 KRW to 1,450 KRW.

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