Exclusive
Climate Card Cumulative Losses Near 400 Billion Won… Seoul City Has Covered 220 Billion Won

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that the "Climate Card," a key project by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, has incurred approximately 400 billion won in transport losses within two years of its introduction. The scale of the deficit is growing every year. Seoul City is using taxpayer money to cover more than half of the total transport losses, with the city’s burden alone exceeding 220 billion won to date.

According to Bizhankook’s reporting, the transport losses incurred by the Climate Card from February to December last year, when the project launched, totaled 152.7 billion won. The deficit has worsened this year. From January to October, the transport losses reached 229.5 billion won. This means a cumulative loss of 382.2 billion won has been recorded just 21 months into the project.

When broken down by month, the situation is even more severe. The monthly average loss, which was around 13.8 billion won during the first year of operation, has surged by more than 65% to 22.9 billion won this year. If the losses for November and December are included, the cumulative loss is expected to easily surpass 400 billion won by the end of this year.

This "deficit structure" was expected. The transport loss is the difference between the actual transportation costs used by the passenger and the amount paid for the card (45,000 to 70,000 won). According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the monthly average usage for a 30-day pass holder is 91,473 won. This means that a loss of about 30,000 won per user is generated each month, and this gap is filled by transport agencies and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The problem is that the "bill" that Seoul City must shoulder is becoming too heavy. Of the total losses, the "loss compensation" amount that Seoul City has had to cover reached 89 billion won last year and 133.4 billion won this year (as of October), totaling 222.4 billion won.

While Seoul Metro and city bus operators (the Council of Joint Management for Transport Revenue) split the losses 50:50 with Seoul City, the city bears 100% of the losses generated by Korail, village buses, and private railways.

The budget for the Climate Card, initially set at 40.1 billion won for 2024, was increased to 104.7 billion won through a supplementary budget. This year’s budget has also ballooned from an initial 108.8 billion won to 129.9 billion won after accounting for supplementary funding. Seoul City has set a budget of 148.8 billion won for 2026.

Although the Seoul Metropolitan Government promotes the Climate Card as contributing to lower transportation costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, criticism remains. Critics point out that despite the massive budget poured into the project, the actual eco-friendly effects, such as a decrease in private vehicle usage, are minimal.

An industry insider noted, "With transport agencies already suffering from massive deficits due to systems like the free elderly transit policy, the added burden of compensating for Climate Card losses has pushed financial capacity to its limit."