By Charles Audouin

Everyone's Card, a new service of the mass transit discount K-Pass, from next year will offer full reimbursement of public transportation fees that exceed a monthly threshold.

The Metropolitan Transport Commission of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Dec. 15 announced the measure to ease the financial burden of public transit users.

Launched in May last year, the K-Pass reimburses 20%-53.3% of a user's monthly fares covering public transportation like city and express buses, subways and the Great Train eXpress, aka GTX, a higher-speed commuter rail system, for those making at least 15 trips per month.

From Jan. 1, Everyone's Card holders will get the entire amount spent beyond the refund threshold. In other words, the more times users ride public transportation, the higher their cash back.

The threshold depends on factors such as area of residence, user type, number of children and low-income status. For most of the public, the standard plan's range is from KRW 45,000 to KRW 62,000 (single fare of under KRW 3,000) and that of the plus plan from KRW 85,000 to KRW 100,000 for all forms of mass transit.

The threshold will be gradually cut for youth, households with two children and those with three or more, senior citizens and low-income individuals.

The benefit will apply to all modes of public transportation nationwide.

A new K-Pass is not needed. Instead of picking either the refund choices of the K-Pass or Everyone's Card in advance, the K-Pass system automatically calculates monthly use and applies the option with the higher discount.

The commission is also improving the user interface on the K-Pass app and website to make it easier to check refund amounts.

caudouin@korea.kr