The government and the ruling People Power Party(PPP) are seeking to raise the age of eligibility for free subway rides offered to seniors in an effort to stem the losses incurred by municipal governments.

Following a party meeting on Friday, PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young said his party and the government will discuss how the central and local government could share the deficit burden while considering revising the 65-year-old threshold set decades ago.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon recently urged the finance ministry to address the snowballing annual deficit of one trillion won, or about 813 billion U.S. dollars, in order to reduce the public's burden.

This comes after the ministry, under a policy of fiscal austerity, opposed a bipartisan budget that passed through a standing committee last year seeking to make up for the losses due to local governments' subway public service obligation.