Gyeonggi-do to Convert 12 Privately Operated Wide-Area Buses to Semi-Public Operation System

5 Cities and Counties, 12 Routes, 110 Vehicles ‥ Operating as 'Public Bus' from the First Bus on the 1st of Next Month

File photo [Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter La Young-cheol] Twelve metropolitan bus routes in Gyeonggi-do, which were operated on a private basis, will be converted to 'Gyeonggi-do Public Bus' starting from the first run on September 1.

According to Gyeonggi-do on the 31st, the routes to be converted and operated as Gyeonggi-do Public Bus include a total of 12 routes with 110 buses across 5 cities/counties: ▲1 route in Gwangmyeong-si ▲7 routes in Yongin-si ▲1 route in Paju-si ▲1 route in Pyeongtaek-si ▲2 routes in Hwaseong-si.

As a result, out of 245 direct-seat type city bus routes with 2,338 buses in the province, about 90%, totaling 220 routes with 2,070 buses, will be operated as Gyeonggi-do Public Bus.

The newly added 12 routes will be operated under a limited license, with the initial license period set at 5 years. Depending on the service evaluation results, the license can be extended once for an additional 4 years, allowing a maximum of 9 years of route operation rights.

To this end, the province completed preparatory procedures such as recruiting and selecting transportation operators and pre-operation inspections through a bidding announcement in June.

Previously, the province converted 70 direct-seat type city bus routes, which were operated under the 'Revenue-Sharing Management Type (Su-gong Type),' to Gyeonggi-do Public Bus as of August 1.

'Gyeonggi-do Public Bus' is a semi-public bus system introduced and implemented by the province since 2019 to eliminate the problems of the 'Su-gong Type' semi-public system implemented in Seoul and other cities.

While it similarly guarantees the deficit portion of transportation operators with public funds as in the existing 'Su-gong Type' semi-public system, unlike the 'Su-gong Type' which grants permanent licenses, the public sector owns the route rights and entrusts operation rights for a fixed period to transportation operators selected through open competitive bidding.

Heo Nam-seok, Director of the Gyeonggi-do Transportation Bureau, stated, "We will drastically improve services to realize public transportation in Gyeonggi-do that is more convenient than private cars."