'Go to Baengnyeongdo by city bus fare'... Incheon citizens to receive coastal ferry discounts starting next year

Starting next year, all Incheon citizens will be able to travel to various Incheon islands, including Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands, using city bus fares.

On the 24th, Incheon City announced that from January next year, it will implement the "Incheon I-Sea Pass" policy, which lowers the round-trip fare for coastal passenger ferries to 3,000 won (1,500 won one way).

Until now, only residents living on islands in Ganghwa-gun and Ongjin-gun could take passenger ferries at city bus fares, but from next year, all Incheon citizens will receive the same benefit. The eligible ferries include 16 vessels operating on 14 routes connecting Incheon mainland and islands, excluding the Incheon-Pungdo (Ansan, Gyeonggi) route.

Currently, Incheon citizens pay only 20% of the coastal passenger ferry fare with the city’s budget support. For example, the round-trip fare for the Incheon-Baengnyeong ferry is 151,800 won, but Incheon citizens pay 39,600 won.

The city expects that if the ferry fares to all Incheon islands are reduced to 3,000 won round-trip starting next year, the number of ferry passengers, currently about 600,000 annually, will increase to 660,000.

Also, the budget for ferry fare subsidies, which has been about 18 billion won annually, is expected to increase to around 22 billion won. For residents of other cities and provinces, the current subsidy of 50% of the regular fare will be expanded to 70% from next year, allowing them to use Incheon coastal passenger ferries by paying only 30% of the fare.

Yoo Jeong-bok, Mayor of Incheon, said, "Reducing the relatively expensive maritime transportation fare compared to land public transportation fares is expected to increase island tourism and contribute to revitalizing the local economy." He added, "We will continue to develop various policies to make public transportation more convenient for citizens."

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