Lee Jae-myung: "Government must honor 50% national funding commitment for semi-public wide-area bus project"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung emphasized that the central government must bear half the budget burden for the semi-public wide-area bus project that will be transferred to the central government starting next year, as originally promised.

At an expanded executive meeting chaired by the governor on the 27th, Governor Lee said, "We raised bus fares based on the premise that wide-area buses are a state affair, so for the government to say now that it cannot bear the budget burden is a breach of trust," and instructed, "It is contrary to common sense to break an agreement made between public institutions, so deal with this matter seriously."

Previously, Gyeonggi Province raised fares last year by 200 won for city buses, 400 won for reserved-seat buses, and 450 won for Gyeonggi circulator buses. At the time, the province accepted a request from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that a proactive fare increase in Gyeonggi Province was necessary to establish the 52-hour work week system, making it the first in the Seoul metropolitan area to independently raise bus fares.

As a condition of the fare increase, the province recommended that the central government take charge of wide-area buses, which were previously handled by Gyeonggi Province and municipal governments, and implement a semi-public management system. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport accepted this proposal, and in May, when the fare increase took effect, jointly announced a "Bus Sector Development Plan for Improving National Transportation Welfare."

Accordingly, at a meeting in September with the Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Committee under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the province reached an agreement to bear 50% of the budget required for the semi-public wide-area bus project and expand the target routes from 15 to 27.

However, in the '2021 Government Budget (draft)' currently under parliamentary budget review, the national treasury share rate was found to be only 30%, and the project budget only reflected 2.25 billion won corresponding to 15 routes.

Gyeonggi Province maintains that since wide-area bus operations are being converted to state affairs, the burden of national budget is natural, and local governments merely supplement this. Therefore, the province argues that the central government should bear 6.75 billion won, which is 50% of the costs required for implementing the semi-public system, as national funding, and should also expand wide-area bus routes to 27 as originally planned.

Accordingly, the province plans to publicly raise this issue and visit the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and other relevant ministries, as well as the National Assembly, to urge the central government to bear national funding as originally promised.

A Gyeonggi Province official explained, "If wide-area buses are converted to state affairs and the costs required for implementing the semi-public system are shared with national funds, strong expansion of wide-area bus routes and stable operations at the national level become possible," and added, "In this case, Gyeonggi Province will be able to strengthen its policies for regular city buses, resulting in improved public transportation services for the entire province."