Climate card cashback benefit to end in June
Ministry says Modu Card benefits run through September
Off-peak incentive eases rush-hour congestion by 4%
Amid an unresolved rift between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Metropolitan Government over public transit cashback benefits, the ministry said the Modu Card is the better deal for commuters.
The cashback benefit tied to Seoul's Climate Card is set to expire at the end of June, while the Modu Card's equivalent benefit continues through the end of September.
The ministry also said that since introducing off-peak commute incentives under the Modu Card, congestion during peak hours has eased. Ridership in the hour before and after rush hour rose about 1 percent, while usage during core commute hours — 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. — fell about 4 percent.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Transportation Commission said Thursday that after launching the Modu Card, a new transit welfare card, in January and sharply expanding its cashback benefits through a supplementary budget in April, both the number of users and the number of people receiving cashback have increased.
The government lowered the threshold for flat-rate cashback eligibility by more than 50 percent from the previous standard, and introduced an additional measure that raises the base cashback rate under the percentage-based plan by 30 percentage points for riders who travel during off-peak hours around the commute window. Those off-peak hours are defined as 5:30 to 6:30 a.m., 9 to 10 a.m., 4 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m.
Data tracking usage after the off-peak incentive took effect show that the share of trips taken during those off-peak windows rose about 1 percent as of May, while the share during core rush hours fell about 4 percent — a positive sign for congestion relief.
Driven by the expanded incentives, Modu Card subscribers surpassed 5 million in April and reached about 5.57 million by June. Enhanced support for residents outside the greater Seoul area also produced results: users from non-metropolitan regions grew from about 1.25 million at the end of last year to about 1.71 million in June, an increase of roughly 460,000.
The commission said every local government nationwide has joined the Modu Card program, and that seven regional governments — Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, Busan, Gwangju, South Gyeongsang Province, Ulsan and Sejong — operate their own region-specific cards built on the Modu Card platform. The Modu Card cashback benefit applies uniformly across the country, while region-specific services are funded by the respective local governments and offered to their residents.
On a region-specific card based on the Modu Card that Seoul is reportedly preparing, the commission said it plans to decide on approval after conducting policy and technical reviews — including system integration for any specialized services — once Seoul submits a formal application.
Park Ji-hong, a standing commissioner at the commission, said Seoul has not yet filed a formal application for a Modu Card-based regional card. "We plan to review, upon receiving an official request, whether Seoul's proposals — such as adjusting the youth age bracket, including discharged veterans, and extending coverage to the Seoul sections of the Greater Seoul Express Railway (GTX) and Sinbundang Line — can be implemented as services," Park said.
The commission said that while Seoul's Climate Card special high-fuel-price support — a 30,000 won (about $20) cashback — ends at the end of June, the Modu Card's high-fuel-price half-price discount continues through September. Public transit users who switch to the Modu Card stand to receive roughly 32,000 won more in monthly refunds as a result.
Kim Yong-seok, chairman of the commission, said transportation costs are "the area of everyday welfare most closely tied to people's daily lives," adding that he hopes the Modu Card can "lighten the wallets of citizens living through an era of high prices, even if just a little."
smh@heraldcorp.com
