Hwaseong City Expands Free Public Transportation to Youth Up to Age 23 Starting October

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Hwaseong City announced on the 30th that youth aged 23 and under will be able to use free public transportation starting October 1st.

This is a measure following seniors aged 65 and older earlier this month, building on the city's groundbreaking introduction of free public transportation for children and teenagers last year, the first in the Seoul metropolitan area.

With this expansion, Hwaseong City's free public transportation will be provided to those aged 7 to 23 and 65 and older. This represents 28% of the city's total population of 870,000.

The program refunds the card fees used for city and village bus rides within the city. Youth aged 19 to 23 newly included in the program can apply for a card starting next month on the 1st through the Hwaseong City Free Public Transportation website (https://savebus.hscity.go.kr).

In particular, those who previously used free public transportation but were excluded from the program upon turning 19 can reuse their existing cards without issuing additional cards if they maintain their website membership status.

However, simultaneous support with other transportation subsidy programs such as Gyeonggi Province's Youth Transportation Cost Support Project is not permitted.

Meanwhile, since Hwaseong City's free public transportation program began in November of last year, the cumulative number of users among children and teenagers stands at 56,000, with approximately 662 million won in transportation fees refunded.