The Metropolitan and Provincial Council Chairs Association of Korea held the first extraordinary session for the year 2023 in Ulsan on Jan. 26, when they approved 12 proposals.
One was a recommendation to demand the central government’s financing of free transit on urban railways.
Chairman Kim Hyun-gi of the Metropolitan and Provincial Council Chairs Association of Korea, concurrently Seoul Metropolitan Council chairman, passed a resolution bill by Seoul Metropolitan Government, Gwangju Metropolitan City and Daegu Metropolitan City to demand national funding to cover their losses stemming from free subway rides.
Chairman Kim convened the first extraordinary session of the Metropolitan and Provincial Council Chairs Association for the year 2023, during which 12 proposals on pending issues designed to advance a “decentralized provincial era” were passed.
Among the approved proposals were a recommendation for the central government to cover losses stemming from free urban railway rides, a statement on institutional reform to protect the rights of persons required to report child abuse, a demand for the enactment of an law on hiring and supporting foreign seasonal workers, and a recommendation on institutional improvement of work that is related to development restriction areas.
Chairman Kim, who submitted a proposal on national funding for free urban subway transportation, said under the legal free ride system, introduced in 1984, urban railway operators across the nation sustained 1,350.9 billion won in an annual average losses for five years from 2017 to 2021, and those related to free urban railway rides accounted for about 41 percent or 550.4 billion won.
He said the losses related to free urban railway rides were too much to bear on their own, but the central government offers national funding of free rides, sustained only by Korea Railroad Corp., not local governments.
The portion of the elderly, aged 65 or more, stood at a mere 5.9 percent in 1984 when the legal free urban railway ride system was introduced.
But as the figure is predicted to surge to 20.6 percent in 2025 and 40.1 percent in 2050, meaning losses from free urban railway transit will likely weigh on the fiscal conditions of local governments in the future, Chairman Kim said.
The basic rate for Seoul subway rides has remained unchanged for eight years since 2015 when it was raised from 1,050 won to 1,250 won, Seoul Metro, the operator of Seoul subway lines, sustained 1,144.8 billion won in 2020, 995.7 billion won in 2021 and 1,260 billion won in 2022 due to declining passenger transportation revenues, caused by the aging of population and the COVID-19 pandemic, and about 30 percent of the losses, sustained by Seoul Metro last year, was blamed for free urban subway rides.
The Metropolitan and Provincial Council Chairs Association of Korea convenes the first extraordinary session for the year 2023 in Ulsan on Jan. 26.
Special Committee on Budget & Accounts Passes 47 trillion Won Budget for 2023
The Special Committee on Budget & Accounts of the Seoul Metropolitan Council approved a 47 trillion won budget for next year.
According to the metropolitan council, the committee convened a plenary session on Dec. 16 and passed the year 2023 budget bill for Seoul Metropolitan Government.
SMG submitted a budget bill of 47,205.2 billion won, the biggest-ever amount in early November.
_대한민국시도의회의장협의회 2023년 제1차 임시회 개최03.JPG)
_대한민국시도의회의장협의회 2023년 제1차 임시회 개최.JPG)
