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K-Pass expands nationwide starting Wednesday
Seoul Station's bus platform is crowded with city buses, Jan. 15. Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
K-Pass, a state-run fare discount program for public transit users, will be rolled out nationwide on Wednesday.
K-Pass coverage to all municipalities comes as 11 local governments that had been delaying the introduction of the program to their local residents agreed Tuesday with the Metropolitan Transport Commission (MTC) to launch the program. The commission, which is under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, oversees K-Pass.
The 11 local governments are in South Jeolla and North Gyeongsang provinces, including the counties of Jindo, Wando, Cheongsong, Bonghwa and Ulleung Island.
First introduced in May 2024 for subways, buses and the high-speed subway system GTX in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, K-Pass provides refunds of 20 to 53 percent of public transit fares, depending on users’ age groups and regions of residence. Foreigners with identification numbers are also eligible for the service.
This year the authority further improved the discount benefits by introducing additional upper-limit standards that vary by users’ family status and regions of residence. Any amount spent beyond those limits are refunded.
Operating K-Pass requires funding from both the central and local governments. The 11 municipalities had not prepared a budget for the program, which had prevented local residents from accessing the policy.
The ministry said Tuesday any local municipality that lacks the necessary budget to operate K-Pass will be allotted a supplementary budget for the service.
The ministry said that with the 11 municipalities’ signing on to the service, the country’s new “standardized public transit welfare policy for 229 local governments nationwide has finally been completed.”
“The final piece of puzzle for the country’s public transit fare deduction plan has been put in place. K-Pass will be our new traffic welfare policy anywhere, anytime,” said Kim Yong-seok, MTC chairman.