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Seoul inner-city buses. (Yonhap News)

Altteul Cards, which allow users to reduce public transportation costs proportionally to their walking and bike use, will be made available to citizens throughout Seoul.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on July 16 that it was expanding the Altteul Card project to all regions of the city, after it was previously available only in the five districts of Jongno, Jung, Guro, Seocho, and Gangnam.

Altteul Cards are transportation cards that offer mileage of up to 20% in proportion to the distance traveled on foot or on a bike before the use of public transportation, with an additional discount of around 10% provided by credit card companies. For example, a person who pays 1,500 won (US$1.25) in transportation costs when traveling to work and walks 800m from their home to the bus or subway station would acquire 250 won (US$0.21) in mileage and 150 won (US$0.12) in credit card benefits. A pilot run of the system last year showed an average monthly reduction of 12,246 won (US$10.17) in transportation costs.

Users can begin acquiring mileage after applying for and receiving a card through the Altteul Card website and installing a smartphone app. Those who use public transportation less than 15 times a month are not eligible to accrue mileage, which is only available for up to 44 trips. Cards may be used anywhere in the Seoul Capital Area (Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon), with double mileage when emergency fine dust reduction measures are in effect.

By Ock Kee-won, staff reporter

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