Nothing annoys Yi Seon-a (an assumed name), a homemaker in Euijeong-bu City, Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province), more than visiting her in-laws in Gwangju Metropolitan City. Due to lack of public transportation from Gyeonggi to Gwangju, she has to either drive a car and endure the hellish traffic congestion or travel another hour to Seoul just to take the express bus headed to Gwangju from there.

Now life is going to be so much easier for Yi as well as others who live in small and mid-sized cities with little or no bus stops for long distance buses. Starting from Monday (Nov. 2) express buses will also pick up passengers from Jeong-an Highway Rest Stop in Jeolla-do Province, southwest Korea and Hoengseong Rest Stop in the eastern part of Gangwon-do (Gangwon Province). 

Up until now, people living in mid or small sized cities like Gyeonggi's Euijeong-bu or Yongin had to travel all the way up to bigger cities just to take an express bus. That's because bus lines were designed with Seoul as the center, and the number of bus routes and shuttle services to outer areas are few. This again led people there to avoid using what few bus routes they have altogether.

Of the total 145 express bus routes managed by eight bus companies, 73 routes either depart from or arrive in Seoul. By contrast only three bus routes on average, have their terminals in small or mid-sized cities. The interval between buses has also been a big problem. In case of Seoul to Gwangju, terminal buses following that route leave every five to 10 minutes. The route from Goyang to Gwangju, however, runs every 80 minutes. A few other routes that link one suburban area to the other come every three hours, making it a time-consuming ordeal for people outside large metropolitan areas to use buses.

Jeong-an and Hoengseong Highway Rest Stops will each have two transferring stops each, one heading to a suburban area and the other headed to the capital city. The four bus stops will go into trial operation from Monday to Thursday every week for a while.

In related news, 12 new bus routes also began trial operation linking places that have few or no bus routes at all. If one uses the latest bus stop wisely, one can take advantage of 38 additional bus routes. The newest route is also time saving, cost effective and, above all, faster. It is estimated one can save about 47 minutes on average, cut fares by 2,500 won and reduce traveling distance by 35 kilometers.

“If we upgrade highway rest stops with new bus stops for buses it would not only serve people in far off cities well, but also further relieve traffic congestion and increase the number of passengers using long distance buses,” Goh Cheol-jin, head of the public transportation division at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said. “We plan to gradually roll out more new bus stops after seeing how this trial project goes.”

*Adapted from Weekly Gonggam Magazine

By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer