Seoul city council passes ordinance on senior transportation support

Plan to raise subway free-ride age from 65 to 70 to offset budget burden

Free bus rides to be capped at 14 trips per month

A community bus in Seoul. [Herald DB]
A community bus in Seoul. [Herald DB]

The Seoul Metropolitan Council has passed an ordinance to provide free bus rides for residents aged 70 and older. The resulting budget burden will be offset by raising the minimum age for free subway rides from 65 to 70.

The council passed the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Senior Transportation Support Ordinance," sponsored by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Byeong-yun of Dongdaemun District 1, at a plenary session Wednesday afternoon. The vote was 69 in favor, one against and five abstentions out of 75 registered members. The ordinance allows the city to cover part or all of the bus fares — on both city buses and community buses — for residents aged 70 or older who are registered in Seoul and meet criteria set by the mayor.

Seoul now has a legal basis to provide free bus rides for older residents. The city will determine the specific scope and method of support at a later date.

However, subsidizing bus fares for seniors would require more than 500 billion won in funding. The council secretariat estimated that issuing free bus transit cards to residents aged 70 and older would cost 578.8 billion won ($377 million) over five years.

Unlike the subway system, city buses have not offered free rides to older passengers. Seoul plans to extend the benefit to buses while raising the free-ride age for urban rail from 65 to 70 to absorb the added cost. The buses covered under the ordinance are city buses and community buses as defined by the Enforcement Rules of the Passenger Transport Service Act; express buses and intercity buses are not included.

Free bus rides for older residents was a campaign pledge by Mayor Oh Se-hoon in the June 3 local elections. The policy aims to extend transportation welfare to residents who live in areas with limited subway access.

However, the city plans to cap free bus rides at 14 trips per month to minimize the fiscal burden. City estimates put the annual cost of subsidizing up to 14 bus trips per month for residents aged 70 and older at about 52.5 billion won. Raising the subway free-ride age to 70 is projected to generate roughly 57.2 billion won in additional fare revenue each year, meaning the measure could in theory be implemented without additional funding.

The ordinance passed Wednesday covers only the bus fare support component.

On June 19, Oh met with the Seoul chapter of the Korea Senior Citizens Association, where he received a proposal to waive bus fares for seniors aged 70 and older for fewer than 15 trips per month. The city plans to hold a public hearing involving seniors, experts and citizens in early July.


ikson@heraldcorp.com