Fuel subsidies for charter buses to begin Thursday

Diesel fuel subsidies for charter buses will take effect Thursday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced Wednesday that it had revised its fuel subsidy guidelines under the Passenger Transport Services Act, following consultations with related ministries and the charter bus industry, extending subsidies to approximately 39,000 diesel-powered charter buses.

The subsidy will cover both the fuel-tax-linked subsidy of 149 won per liter and the fuel-price-linked subsidy of 98 won per liter currently paid to route buses, with the per-unit rate set at 70 percent of the rate applied to route buses.

Based on a diesel price of 1,900 won per liter, each vehicle will receive about 250,000 won per month in fuel cost support.

The program runs for one year through July 15 next year. It may be renewed for up to one additional year if the national energy security crisis Alert level reaches Alert or higher, or if the average retail price of diesel reaches 1,500 won per liter or above.

The ministry also announced accompanying measures to ensure transparent management of the subsidies.

Payments will be made only when purchases are made using a dedicated fuel subsidy card, allowing transaction records to be verified and preventing fraudulent claims. The ministry will continuously monitor irregular transactions — such as unusually frequent or excessive refueling — through its fuel subsidy management system, and plans to step up enforcement by conducting joint on-site inspections with local governments and the Charter Bus Federation against gas stations and transport operators suspected of fraud.

Anyone caught making fraudulent claims will face full recovery of all subsidies received, and subsidy payments will be suspended for all vehicles operated by the offending transport company.

Park Jae-soon, director general of transport and logistics at the ministry, said the public role of charter buses had grown compared with the past — with a rising share used for commuting and school transport — and that the subsidies were introduced to ease the burden of high fuel costs stemming from recent tensions in the Middle East. "We hope this measure will improve conditions for charter bus operators and workers, as well as the quality of charter bus service," he said.