Public transportation, such as buses and subways, has been widely popular among ordinary people. The reason for this is its affordability and variety of routes for men, women, and children to use every day. However, it seems that the public transportation is currently undergoing problems, as the heavy deficits are being accumulated each year.
The Seoul government has raised subway train and bus fares as the deficit becomes unbearable. As a result, the fare became 1,050 won per adult. However, the Seoul government is now working on a plan to raise the fare for both subways and buses. If this plan goes through, the subway train fare will be 1,250 won and the bus fare will be 1,200 won per adult. The reason behind this increase is the government’s incapability to deal with such heavy deficit. It may be understandable, but does not make sense to raise the fare each time this happens because it would cause too many problems.
When the fare was changed to 1,050 won, the monthly transportation expenses per college student ranged from 40,000 won to 60,000 won in average. If the fare reaches the amount of 1,200 won to 1,250 won, then it would definitely have a notable impact on the people’s transportation expenses. Furthermore, this will become burdensome to most ordinary people, since their monthly income would stay still the same. Why is it that the Seoul government cannot do anything but keep raising the transportation fare? There are various reasons that contribute to the deficit of the subways and buses; however, three factors have more impact that others: the transfer discount, free ride, and the graying of the society.
The first factor is the transfer discount, a convenient system for people who use the public transport each day. A transfer discount is a system that helps people use secondary public transportation for free if they transfer within half an hour. This system is quite unique to South Korea, and it may be the reason for the heavy deficit of the Seoul government. Since a lot of people transfer from buses to subways or vice versa, the latter method of transportation suffers a huge loss due to a transfer discount. It is deemed suitable for ordinary people; therefore, the Seoul government discussed the limitation of the transfer times as a substitution. Unfortunately, it did not work out.
The second factor is a free ride. The government is trying their hardest to stop people from illegally using the public transportation for free; however, there are still a number of people who do not pay the right price for using buses or subways. According to statistics, 13.3% of the people who used the public transportation in 2014 did not pay the fare. This is not a trivial number, and more precise solutions must be planned in order to prevent free ride and heavier deficit that results from such immorality.
The third factor is the graying of the Korean society. This may seem irrelevant, but in reality it does have an influence in a bigger picture. The current system allows seniors over 65 years of age to use the public transportation for free. It surely is a remarkable welfare system for the seniors, but there are different opinions regarding this system, given the alteration of the modern society. Since the Korean society is aging annually, there are arguments that the age requirement for this system should be taken into account in order to create a better system.
It is true that Korea’s public transportation is well organized, and that the fare increase is inevitable in order tomaintain such services. Despite the fact that the increase might still take place, ST hopes that the Seoul government will be able to find a valid cause for the deficit so that the people should not suffer.
