Amid growing transportation cost burdens driven by high oil prices and inflation, the government has extended the additional refund benefits of the "Everyone's Card" through September to alleviate the financial burden on public transit users. In particular, attention is focused on whether users of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Climate Companion Card will also be eligible for additional refund benefits when switching to the Everyone's Card.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Metropolitan Transportation Committee introduced the "Everyone's Card" in January this year, a new concept in transportation welfare policy, followed by a significant expansion of the refund system through a supplementary budget in April.

Eased Refund Criteria and Enhanced Off-Peak Benefits Under this expanded support, the threshold amount for flat-rate refunds has been lowered by more than 50% compared to previous levels. Additionally, citizens who use public transit while avoiding peak commute hours will receive an additional 30 percentage points (p) applied to the basic (proportional) refund rate. The eligible time slots for additional refunds have been set to one hour before and after morning and evening commutes: 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This initiative aims to simultaneously reduce traffic congestion and ease the burden on commuters.

Over 5.57 Million Subscribers... Clear Growth in Non-Metropolitan Area Users As of June this year, the number of Everyone's Card subscribers reached approximately 5.57 million. Following the milestone of 5 million subscribers in April, the steady upward trend continues to expand the user base. Notably, the government's decision to apply differentiated refund levels across the metropolitan area, regional areas, preferential support zones, and special support zones—thereby strengthening support for regional areas—has led to a significant increase in non-metropolitan users. Subscribers in regional areas grew from 1.25 million in December last year to 1.71 million in June this year, an increase of approximately 460,000. The share of regional subscribers among total users also expanded from 29.2% to 30.7%. The government evaluated that this growth trend is playing a positive role not only in reducing transportation costs but also in narrowing the transportation welfare gap between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.

Nationwide Local Government Participation... Seoul Preparing to Introduce Specialized Card Currently, all local governments nationwide participate in the Everyone's Card system, and seven metropolitan local governments—Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Gwangju, Gyeongnam, Ulsan, and Sejong—are operating region-specific transportation cards based on the Everyone's Card. Basic refund benefits are provided under uniform standards nationwide, while region-specific additional services are operated through each local government's own budget. Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is also preparing to introduce a region-specific card based on the Everyone's Card. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to determine approval after system integration and a comprehensive policy and technical review, once Seoul officially submits its application.

[This article was written with the assistance of AI. This article was produced with the help of AI based on publicly available government data. Please verify the detailed provisions and application criteria of the system through official government announcements.]