Transportation Issues

[Anchor Lead]

Residents of urban developments in the Seoul metropolitan area experience a lot of inconveniences because of the complex mass transit system. A special commission has been set up to oversee how local governments handle transportation issues.

[Pkg]

​Unjeong in Paju, Gyeonggi-do Province, is a newly developed district. Although the Gyeongui/Jungang Subway Line was built in the area in 2014, buses are still the major transportation means operated between Unjeong and Seoul. Rush hour traffic is a nightmare for the locals, when scores of commuters flock to bus stops.

[Soundbite] Nam Ji-hyun(Paju Resident) : "The cars from remote parts of Paju enter this area and there are too many commuters. Even when I arrive at the bus stop one hour in advance, I still cannot catch a bus by 7 a.m."

To oversee transportation services provided between large cities and surrounding cities, authorities have set up the Metropolitan Transport Commission. It is tasked with overseeing traffic in five large cities, including Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon. The commission also plans to promote the expansion of transportation infrastructure among local governments, something that has seen little progress so far. Other measures include the establishment of large transfer centers to improve connectivity among regions, the launch of easy-to-use express bus services, and transportation cards offering discounts on mass transit fares nationwide.

[Soundbite] Choi Ki-joo(Head of Metropolitan Transport Commission) : "We will lay a foundation for cutting commute time by 20 percent over the next five years and more than 30 percent in the next decade by building a metropolitan traffic network and efficiently connecting it among regions."

However, the new measures will inevitably come under fire for excluding large-scale private projects such as the express train service GTX in the Seoul metropolitan area and the New Ansan Line.