Last Trains Extended on the 25th and 26th... Which Hospitals and Pharmacies Are Open During the Seollal Holiday?

Seoul City Implements Special Traffic Measures for Lunar New Year Holiday

Extends Last Subway and Bus Service Times
Extends Bus-Only Lane Operating Hours

67 Emergency Medical Institutions Operate 24 Hours
3,385 Holiday Duty Pharmacies Open

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will implement special traffic measures for the Lunar New Year holiday.

To accommodate late-night travelers returning home, subway and bus last train times will be extended later than usual, and the operating hours of bus-only lanes will also be extended.

On Lunar New Year’s Day and the following day, when returning travelers are concentrated, the last train times for subways and buses will be extended until 2 a.m. the next day. Subway lines 1 to 9 and the Uisinseol Line will operate extended services based on arrival times. Since the boarding times vary depending on the station and destination, passengers should check notices or announcements in advance.

Nine owl bus routes and about 3,000 late-night exclusive taxis will also operate normally throughout the holiday period.

Express and intercity buses departing from Seoul that pass through five city terminals will increase the number of daily operations by an average of 562 buses during the holiday period.

The bus-only lane on the Gyeongbu Expressway (Hannam IC to Sintanjin IC), which normally operates from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., will have its operating hours extended from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. the next day during the holiday period (from the 23rd to the 27th).

◆Check which hospitals and pharmacies are open=During the Lunar New Year holiday, 67 emergency medical institutions and general hospital emergency rooms in Seoul will operate 24 hours a day.

The emergency medical institutions include 31 regional and local emergency medical centers such as Ulsan University Hospital, 18 local emergency medical institutions such as Seoul Eastern Hospital, and 18 hospitals operating emergency rooms such as the National Medical Center, totaling 67 facilities open.

For primary care during the holiday, 1,829 medical institutions other than emergency medical institutions will provide emergency medical services, and 3,385 holiday duty pharmacies will be designated near these medical institutions to operate.

On the 23rd, when the large-scale Lunar New Year holiday travel began, passengers at Seoul Station boarding area were moving towards trains heading to their hometowns. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

During the holiday, you can easily check which hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies are open in your neighborhood via the internet, phone, or smartphone applications. This information is available on the websites of the 119 Emergency Management Center, Seoul Metropolitan Government, 25 autonomous districts, and the Central Emergency Medical Center. You can also call 120 (Dasan Call Center) or 119 (Emergency Management Center) without an area code for guidance, or check through the app "Emergency Medical Information Service (e-gen)".

Over-the-counter safety medicines (such as digestive aids, fever reducers/pain relievers, cold medicine, and patches?4 types totaling 13 items) can be easily purchased at 7,252 safety medicine sales locations such as convenience stores (Seoul Metropolitan Government website → Safety Medicines).