For Hanyang people who commute to the campus, they might have dreamed of a non-limited transportation pass against the monthly transportation fee. Seoul issued the 'Climate Card', an unlimited transportation regular pass, for people who commute to Seoul. The issued Climate Cards reached 462 thousand from January 23 to February 25 and it is a great trend for all.

Why was the unlimited transportation fee named Climate Card? Here is a talk with Professor Ko Joon-ho at the Graduate School of Urban Studies about the meaning and the direction of the card.

The reason behind the name 'Climate Card' is a clear ground of the climate-friendly transportation policy. Seoul emphasized keywords such as 'low carbon' and 'transportation welfare' while introducing the Climate Card.

The card was inspired by the Klima Ticket (climate ticket) from Austria and the 9 Euro Ticket from Germany. After the introduction of such tickets, the use of public transportation increased by 25%, and greenhouse gas and transportation jams were improved. Seoul's new Climate Card also aims at bringing up similar impacts.

Then why was the transportation policy under the focus? Buildings emit the most carbon in Seoul and transportation such as cars and energy took the second place. Professor Ko said, "It is to emit less carbon in transportation, which is relatively easier to decrease carbon emission than those from buildings and to make a stable approach to eco-friendliness."

Seoul is trying to relieve the costs of transportation and decrease carbon emissions with the Climate Card. However, there is a policy to decrease the economic burden for people who commute with their cars. Due to such contradicting policies, people are raising their voices by saying "Conducting both policies at the same time - climate card and car-friendly policy - is a controversy."

Also, unlike the object of promoting the use of public transportation, the main targets are people in their twenties and thirties, who had been using public transportation and had no cars, even before the introduction of the card. It contradicts the original purpose of the card, saying that the use of older generations is low and they use their cars to commute.

Regarding this, Professor Ko said, "There is a discrepancy regarding the controversy of the policy." Continued, he said, "However, it does not have a sole object to decrease the number of private cars. When the current young generation gets used to public transportation, they are going to use them longer, hence making the use of transportation more active."

When the policy is kept, the burden of citizens will be decreased in terms of the use of public transportation. However, the Climate Card is only for Seoul. About this, Professor Ko said, "The benefit is limited to some group of people. The spatial limit should be dissolved and the original purpose of this card should be improved."

Finally, Professor Ko said, "The just cause to invest in public transportation is secured thanks to the outstanding success of the Climate Card. I wish the public transportation should be activated due to this and the card could be used afterwards."