The "Commute Time-Shifting Incentive," which provides additional refunds on transportation costs for using public transit outside of peak commuting hours, has been extended until December.

The Metropolitan Transportation Committee under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced today (September 28) that it will operate the system—which applies an additional 30 percentage point proportional refund rate for Modoo Card users who take public transit from 5:30 AM to 6:30 AM, 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM, and 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM—through December.

The government has reflected the related budget in the 2027 government budget proposal to continue the time-shifting incentives next year.

However, the "Half-Price Modoo Card" benefit, which lowered the fixed-rate refund base amount by half, will only apply to September usage as originally planned.

The committee explained that the time-shifting incentives have also been effective in dispersing public transit demand.

Following the implementation of the supplementary budget benefits, the daily average travel volume across all time slots for Modoo Card refund recipients increased by 25.4%, but the travel volume during peak commuting hours rose by 20.7%, showing a relatively smaller increase.

The proportion of peak commuting hours within total daily travel volume also dropped by 1.9 percentage points to 47.7%.

The committee has been implementing benefits using supplementary budget funds to lower the Modoo Card fixed-rate refund base amount by 50% and add a 30 percentage point increase to proportional refund rates (20% to 53.3%) for using public transit before and after peak rush hours.

After expanding benefits through the supplementary budget, the average monthly refund per Modoo Card user doubled to 41,300 won from 20,700 won prior to implementation.

The average monthly number of refund recipients also increased by 22.3% from 2.83 million to 3.46 million.

According to an analysis by The Korea Transport Institute, the nationwide public transit modal split rose by 2.4 percentage points to 28.6% following the implementation of the related policies.
(Photo: Yonhap News)