Four City Bus Routes from Gimhae to Busan to 'Disappear' on July 29

Operation of Revised Routes Starting June 17

Four of the seven city bus routes running between Gimhae, Gyeongnam and Busan will be discontinued starting July 29.

The routes to be discontinued are ▲124, ▲125, ▲128-1, and ▲221, which are operated by Busan City.

According to Gimhae City, in early January, Busan City notified Gimhae that it would relocate the Busan city bus depot from Busan Gusan-dong to Gangseo-gu, Busan, and operate the five routes passing through Gimhae only until the end of April this year.

The two local governments failed to narrow their differences over the discontinued and retained routes and turnaround points, but finally agreed that the discontinuation would take effect at midnight on June 16, and the turnaround point for the replacement routes in Busan would be Deokcheon Station.

Gyeongnam Gimhae City Hall.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

Accordingly, Gimhae City revised bus-related ordinances and regulations to minimize inconvenience to citizens due to the route reorganization.

In April, a new transportation operator for the replacement Busan city bus routes was selected, and recruitment of drivers and procurement of vehicles were completed, followed by trial operations.

Subsequently, on the 1st, Gimhae City received notification from Busan City that the relevant routes would operate until midnight on July 28 and be discontinued starting July 29.

Therefore, Gimhae City decided to gradually operate the replacement routes currently in trial operation from the first bus on the 17th until the 29th of next month.

The city established new routes ▲911 (Gimhae Bulam~Busan Deokcheon Station), ▲912 (Gimhae Samgye~Busan Deokcheon Station), and ▲913 (Gimhae Samgye~Inje University~Busan Deokcheon Station), and increased the number of buses on route ▲220 (Gimhae Pungyu~Busan Hadan Station) by two.

Route 1004, which was originally scheduled for discontinuation, will be reduced from 17 to 9 buses, but the late-night service will continue for the convenience of citizens.

The city plans to quickly finalize the route changes and corresponding timetables and inform citizens using all available online and offline media.

Park Jin-yong, head of the Public Transportation Division, said, “If the start date for the new Gimhae routes is delayed, there is concern about a mass departure of drivers who have been trained over more than two months from recruitment to education and field training, and normal operation at the time of Busan city bus discontinuation would also be difficult. Therefore, we reasonably adjusted the reorganization schedule.” He added, “We also considered Busan City’s position that additional time is needed to operate the Gangseo depot.”