Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Fare to Increase by 300 Won... Free Rides for Children Planned

Price Increase Scheduled Twice: This December and Next May

The general fare for the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit (LRT) will increase by 300 won for the first time in seven years.

Gimhae City in Gyeongnam announced on the 31st that the fare increase proposal for the Busan-Gimhae LRT was approved at the Gyeongsangnam-do Fare Adjustment Committee meeting held on the 27th.

According to the city, the committee decided to implement ▲a 300 won increase in the general fare ▲freezing of youth fares ▲free fares for children, based on the Gimhae City fare adjustment residents' briefing session and the Busan City Price Countermeasures Committee announcement.

Gimhae City plans to raise the fare twice: first by 150 won in December after coordinating the schedule with Busan City, and then by another 150 won on May 3rd next year.

This increase is the first since the 100 won hike in May 2017, while Busan subway fares were raised by 150 won in the first phase on the 6th.

Gimhae City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

Regarding this LRT fare adjustment, the city held a residents' briefing session last August to gather citizens' opinions and listened to the city council's views, forming a consensus on the inevitability of the fare increase.

They explained that the fare hike decision was made due to increased financial burdens on the city caused by the implementation of transfer discounts, sharp rises in labor costs, and facility aging after 10 years since opening.

They added that fare adjustments for the Busan-Gimhae LRT, which connects Busan and Gimhae, require agreement from both cities.

Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Fare Table. [Data provided by Gimhae City Hall]

Currently, the financial support ratio for the Busan-Gimhae LRT is 63.19% from Gimhae City and 36.81% from Busan City, calculated based on the total financial support ratio during the Minimum Revenue Guarantee (MRG) period and now provided under the Minimum Cost Compensation (MCC) method.

The MCC method means that if the actual annual operating revenue of the private investment project is insufficient, the competent authority fills the gap financially, compensating costs rather than guaranteeing revenue as in the previous MRG method.

Busan City insists on maintaining the existing cost-sharing ratio rather than the 50:50 burden (polluter pays principle) proposed by Gimhae City for financial support regarding free fares for children, so if the two cities do not reach an agreement, the implementation of free fares for children may be delayed.

Mayor Hong Tae-yong said, “Although the fare increase was inevitably decided this time, we will strive to reach a smooth agreement with Busan City on the cost-sharing ratio to implement free fares for children and free metropolitan transfer fares, minimizing household burdens amid high inflation.”

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