Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy sign MOU with BC Card on Monday
A new card combining public transit fee refunds with eco-money point accumulation will launch in October.
The Metropolitan Area Transportation Commission under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy announced Monday they will release the Modoo Green Card — a single card offering both benefits — signing an MOU at BC Card's headquarters in Seoul that afternoon.
The card eliminates the inconvenience of obtaining separate cards for each benefit. Starting in October, it will be available through six card issuers: BC Card, Gwangju Bank, Jeju Bank, Kyongnam Bank, Suhyup Bank and IM Bank.
Each card issuer plans to award additional eco-money points for eco-friendly transportation use, covering city buses and subways, KTX, SRT and express buses, electric and hydrogen vehicle charging, and shared mobility services. Once a cardholder accumulates 20,000 or more eco-money points, they can convert them to cash in one-point increments.
The Modoo Card's transit refund benefit returns a portion of fares to users who ride public transportation 15 or more times per month, automatically applying whichever is more advantageous between a percentage-based and a flat-rate refund. Since its launch in January, the program has surpassed 6 million users in eight months and is expected to reach 7 million by year's end, establishing itself as a leading policy for promoting public transit use.
Kim Yong-seok, chairman of the Metropolitan Area Transportation Commission, said the Modoo Green Card "connects transportation policy and eco-friendly policy on a single platform, allowing people to save on transit costs and enjoy green consumption benefits with one card." He added that the commission would "continue to improve transportation policy in ways that people can clearly feel in their daily lives."
Lee Ho-hyun, second vice minister of the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, said it is important to provide tangible benefits for everyday actions people can take, such as choosing eco-friendly products and using public transportation. "We will strengthen support so that people can feel, through the Modoo Green Card, that they are active contributors to Korea's Green Transformation," he said.
smh@heraldcorp.com
