Seoul bus fares to go up

Bus and subway fares in Seoul will be raised by 200 won by early next year, the capital said Friday.

The Seoul municipal government is currently in talks with public transportation operators and is likely to allow the fares to rise by 100 won in November and by another 100 won early next year, city officials said.

At present, the basic fee for adults is 900 won for buses and subways. The fees were last hiked in April 2007.

“The fares should be raised by about 400 won to reflect the increase in costs during the past four years. But the city is going to allow just half of that in order to minimize the public’s burden,” a Seoul official said.

The prices of compressed natural gas and diesel oil, two widely used fuels for Seoul buses, jumped 37 percent since 2007, while electricity prices, on which subways run, went up 16.1 percent.

Overall consumer prices went up 17.2 percent during the period.

The aggregated deficits of bus firms in Seoul stood at 306.9 billion won last year, up 86 percent from 2007.

Seoul Metro, which operates subway lines No. 1 to 4, and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp., which runs subway lines No. 5 to 8, reported a combined deficit of 478.6 billion won last year, an increase of 24 percent from 2007.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)