EXTENDED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HOURS

[Anchor Lead]

As late-night gatherings have become more frequent following the removal of social distancing measures, it has become extremely difficult to hail taxi cabs to go home late at night. The Seoul city government, therefore, plans extend the bus and subway operation to 1 a.m. in addition to servicing late-night buses. Buses will likely go into extended operation next Monday and the subways in mid-June.

[Pkg]

Late at night, outdoor tables are packed with customers and streets with pedestrians. Following the removal of the social distancing measures on April 18th, businesses stay open until late at night, but the problem is getting home. It’s become harder to hail a taxi because there are not enough cab drivers to drive all the people looking to go home.

[Soundbite] Kim Si-eun(Seoul Resident) : "I wanted to get home after my friend’s birthday party but I couldn’t get a cab."

The current transport capacity for public transportation means in Seoul has fallen by about 30,000 passengers since April 2019, before the pandemic. The city of Seoul has decided to extend public transportation services in order to deal with this situation. Starting May 9th, city bus service hours based on the arrival time at a base station will be extended to 1 a.m. Operation hours will be extended for 88 bus routes that pass through 11 high-traffic areas, such as Gangnam, Hongdae and Yeouido. The last service time for those routes are likely to be lengthened by 20 minutes to an hour. Also, extended subway services which were suspended some 2 years ago due to the pandemic, will resume. However, in accordance with various regulations extending operation hours will only be possible from some time next month.

[Soundbite] Baek Ho(City Transportation Office, Seoul Metropolitan Gov't) : "Discussions between the labor and the management about working hour extension are underway. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation needs to get involved too, so it would take about a month and a half at least."

First, operation hours will be lengthened to 1 a.m. for Seoul subway lines 2 as well as lines 5 through 9, the Ui-Sinseol Line, and the soon-to-be-opened Sillim Line. Subway lines 1, 3 and 4 operated jointly with Korail will start their late night services from July 1st. Details on extended service hours are provided at the bus information terminals and the Seoul Transport Operation and Information Service’s website.