Seoul mulls subway fare hike

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul Metropolitan Government is considering raising the subway fare to reduce its snowballing deficit, city officials said Thursday. "We are discussing raising the basic subway fare with the authorities of Gyeonggi Province and Incheon City," said an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which oversees Seoul's two metro operators -- Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp. At present, the basic subway fare is set at 900 won (US$0.8), last raised in 2007. The municipal government plans to increase the fare by 100-200 won, according to the officials. The Seoul metropolitan subway system covers the capital city and its suburban areas of Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, west of Seoul. The municipal government said that the fare hike is part of its efforts to reduce the deficit expected to reach 575 billion won this year alone. The two subway operators have a combined deficit of 2.2 trillion won since 2007, it said. In addition, the city government has proposed that the central government make up for the loss caused by the free ride program for seniors, officials said. Seoul allows seniors over 65 and the disabled to ride for free, but it incurred a loss of 223 billion won last year, accounting for up to 18 percent of the operators' revenues.