Strategies for Improving the Sustainability of Fare-Free Policy for the Elderly through Preferences by Travel Modes

Abstract

As Korea provides a fare-free policy for subways only, there are objections to geographical equity, and the need to expand it to the entire public transportation system is being discussed. However, expanding policy scope in line with an aging society will soon pose sustainability problems. Hence, policy changes, similar to that of countries that provide fare-discount policies for the elderly or apply different discount rates for each travel mode, are needed. However, providing the same policies for all cities may differ from the benefits the target group wants. Thus, this study investigated the preference of the elderly living in major cities in South Korea for discount policies by travel mode. The study aims to provide a strategy for choosing the travel mode that should provide discount policies by combining regional and individual attributes. The latent class model is employed to classify stated preference data collected from the survey. The estimation results show a significant preference heterogeneity depending on the level of subway supply by region, and a policy focused on subways would be more reasonable in cities with sufficient subway infrastructure. In addition, providing additional bus discount policies only for trunk lines will help improve sustainability.