Heavy snow highlights need for comprehensive traffic measures

[Anchor]

As you just saw, heavy snowfall during the morning commute caused a surge of people using the subway and other public transport, leading to severe congestion.

With climate change expected to bring more frequent heavy snow and rain in the future, there are calls for comprehensive measures to reduce traffic congestion.

Reporter Shin Soo-bin has looked into what methods could be implemented.

[Report]

As citizens flocked to the subway due to the heavy snowfall, it became common to miss one or two trains, and even if they managed to board, it was difficult to breathe.

Many citizens chose the subway after receiving safety guidance messages from disaster authorities urging them to use public transport.

To reduce such congestion, it has been pointed out that detailed traffic information should be made available through safety guidance messages.

Since basic guidance messages have a character limit, it is suggested to include the URL of the disaster authority's website below the main content, allowing access to real-time congestion levels and information on increased service for specific routes.

[Lee Ye-na/Mapo-gu, Seoul: "Since there is now some choice in public transport, if I think I will use the subway a lot, it would be helpful to have applications or similar tools available in advance to check (information)."]

To prevent congestion during peak commuting hours, it is also necessary for the government to flexibly adjust the working hours of public institutions and schools.

[Gong Ha-sung/Professor, Department of Fire and Disaster Management, Woosuk University: "We need to devise measures that can be applied by the government or local governments to flexibly adjust the commuting times of workers and the class times of students, thereby dispersing the crowd."]

Remote work and shared office work, which were widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic, are also being suggested as alternatives.

Experts emphasize that in light of climate change and the potential for more frequent weather disasters, it is time for the government to implement more detailed and flexible comprehensive measures.

This is KBS News, Shin Soo-bin.