The Blue House said on the 3rd that it will not restrict "free rides for seniors" even during commuting hours in connection with measures to ease public transportation congestion caused by high oil prices originating in the Middle East. After controversy over discrimination against older adults flared up immediately after "limiting free use hours for seniors" was mentioned at a Cabinet meeting presided over recently by President Lee Jae-myung, the Blue House appeared to step in directly to tamp down the issue.
A Blue House official said that while ministries are discussing remedies at a pan-government level to ease public transportation congestion, "we are not considering measures on free rides for seniors."
Earlier, the president on the previous day said, "Have the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport prepare measures to ease congestion on public transportation during commuting hours," entrusting the ministry with work that included research on restricting free rides for seniors during peak congestion hours. A Blue House official said regarding this, "The measures may include content on free use of public transportation by (seniors)," but the very next day the office announced it would not review that option.
At a Cabinet meeting on the 24th of last month, the president also said, "If the odd-even driving scheme for passenger cars expands due to instability in energy supplies from the Middle East, the concentration of public transportation use during commuting hours could become excessively high," and added, "Let's adjust free use during commuting hours by an hour or two, centered on peak (congestion) times." After reports said the responsible ministry was unclear and that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment were passing the buck, the president directly ordered that MOLIT be solely in charge.
◇ Incentives for public transportation · staggered commuting to start with the public sector
The Blue House said that incentives will be offered for using public transportation outside peak commuting hours. It said further discussions will decide the specific benefits to be provided. It also said it will preemptively expand staggered commuting to disperse travel demand by time of day, starting with the public sector.
According to Blue House Spokesperson Jeon Eun-su, the Blue House held an emergency meeting of relevant ministries the previous day, chaired by Senior Secretary for Growth Economy Ha Jun-kyung, to discuss these measures. Jeon said, "We discussed effective support measures to establish flexible work in the public sector as a model case and to activate it in the private sector," adding, "Because these measures will operate under a pan-government joint framework, we will remove ministerial silos for energy crisis response and citizen safety and mount an all-out response."