Starting this year, households with two or more children can receive up to a 50% refund on transportation expenses using the K-Pass.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Transportation Committee announced on the 2nd that they will introduce a new multi-child household type to the K-Pass this year and include additional participating local governments and card companies.
K-Pass is a transportation card that allows users to receive a refund for a certain percentage of their expenditure from the following month if they use public transportation 15 times or more in a month, up to a maximum of 60 times (maximum of 2 times per day). General users can receive a 20% refund, young adults (aged 19-34) can receive a 30% refund, and low-income individuals can receive a 53.3% refund.
For multi-child households, the refund rate varies depending on the number of children. Households with two children receive a 30% refund, while those with three or more children receive a 50% refund. For example, a user with three children who uses public transportation 60 times with a fee of 1,500 won can receive an additional refund of 27,000 won compared to previous rates.
Multi-child households must verify their eligibility in the 'My Menu - Multi-Child Information' section of the K-Pass website and app to receive the increased refund benefits. Those who are not the head of the household or whose addresses differ from their children must submit additional documents, such as a family relationship certificate.
From this year, the number of participating local governments in the K-Pass will expand from the existing 189 basic local governments to 210, including Kimje, Mungyeong, and Sokcho. Following K-Pass-Gyeonggi (The Gyeonggi Pass) and K-Pass-Incheon (Incheon I-Pass), Gwangju Metropolitan City and Gyeongsangnam-do will introduce region-specific K-Passes to enhance local benefits.
The number of participating card companies will increase from 11 to 13, raising the number of available card types to 32. Since the introduction of the K-Pass in May last year, users have received an average refund of 18,000 won.