The Seoul Metropolitan Government is expected to significantly increase its budget for the Climate Card this year. The decision comes as prolonged conflicts in the Middle East have driven oil prices higher, increasing the need for support to boost public transportation usage, while the decline in users has been smaller than anticipated, making additional fiscal investment unavoidable. Seoul plans to include approximately 100 billion won in a supplementary budget to provide rebates of up to 90,000 won to Climate Card users over three months, and is also reviewing additional budget allocations for the second half to address potential shortfalls in operating costs.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, the city is reviewing plans to allocate approximately 100 billion won for Climate Card-related expenses in the supplementary budget. This follows a decision to provide monthly rebates of 30,000 won from this month through June to users of the 30-day Climate Card pass as part of measures to promote public transportation in response to high oil prices. Seoul plans to submit the supplementary budget proposal to the city council by mid-month.
The Climate Card is a monthly pass that allows unlimited use of public transportation, the Ddareungi bike-sharing service, and Han River ferries for a fixed monthly fee. Seoul estimates that approximately 1 million people will benefit from the rebate program, with the fiscal cost projected to reach around 100 billion won.
The issue is that this year's main budget does not provide sufficient operating funds. While the Climate Card-related budget stands at 148.86 billion won, this includes 40 billion won for transport loss compensation from November to December last year and 48.2 billion won for Seoul Metro loss compensation. Excluding these amounts, the actual operating budget for this year is only 60.548 billion won—roughly half of last year's operating budget of 129.679 billion won.
Seoul initially expected users to drop by about half compared to last year following the central government's introduction of the K-Pass fixed-rate plan. However, as of March, daily average users stood at 700,000, a decrease of only 20,000 from 720,000 in December last year. With the rebate program added, users are likely to increase further for the time being. "This supplementary budget will primarily focus on payback funding in response to high oil prices," a Seoul Metropolitan Government official said. "Future operating budgets will be determined based on actual usage trends."