Seoul, South Korea – The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will be adding a new category for multi-child families to the K-Pass program starting this year. Parents with two or more children will be eligible for a 30% refund on their public transportation fares, while those with three or more children can receive a 50% refund.

Launched in May 2022, the K-Pass program offers refunds on a portion of public transportation fares for those who use public transportation at least 15 times a month. 1  General users receive a 20% refund, while youth and low-income individuals receive 30% and 53.3%, respectively.   

The new multi-child family category is designed to provide additional support for families with children. To qualify, at least one child in the family must be under 18 years old. Families can apply for the higher refund rate by verifying their family status through the K-Pass app or website.

To verify their eligibility, multi-child families will need to undergo a real-time verification process. This involves providing their resident registration number, which allows for a non-face-to-face verification of family information. The number of children will be based on the registered family members in the resident registration system.

For those who cannot undergo real-time verification, such as non-household heads or families with members residing at different addresses, additional documentation like a family relationship certificate will be required. The higher refund rate for multi-child families will be applied from the time the real-time verification is completed or the supporting documents are finalized.

Since its launch, the K-Pass program has gained significant popularity, with 2.65 million users to date. As a result, the number of participating local governments has increased from 189 to 210. New participants this year include Mungyeong, Gimje, and Sokcho.

Following the lead of Gyeonggi-do (with the Gyeonggi Pass) and Incheon (with the Incheon I-Pass), Gwangju Metropolitan City and Gyeongsangnam-do will also be launching their own customized K-Pass programs this month. These localized programs offer higher refund rates than the standard K-Pass, with the additional costs being shared by the respective local governments.

The number of participating credit card companies has also expanded from 11 to 13, providing users with a wider range of options. There are now 32 eligible cards, up from the previous 27.

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