Relief for Residents as Village Bus Service Resumes Operations
Dongjak-gu, Seoul (Mayor Park Il-ha) announced on the 16th that it has produced 12 employed individuals and achieved a 63% employment success rate through the "Village Bus Driver Training" program, which was launched to create a society where residents and businesses coexist harmoniously.
To assist job seekers struggling to find employment and local village bus companies facing driver shortages, the district signed a business agreement with the Seoul Transportation Training Institute in March and began full-scale driver training.
The "Village Bus Driver Training" is a free program that provides one-stop support from training completion to employment. According to the district, the 12 successful job seekers include three each in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, as well as one in their 20s and two in their 30s, showing a balanced distribution across all age groups rather than being limited to a specific age range. All of them were employed by five local village bus companies, which has helped ease the driver shortage and brought some relief to the bus companies.
In one route within Dongjak-gu, thanks to the replenishment of bus drivers, the number of trips increased from 67 to 127, nearly doubling, and the average dispatch interval decreased from 15.6 minutes to 8 minutes, greatly alleviating residents' inconvenience.
The district plans to address issues arising during the project implementation and reflect improvements in next year's program, as well as review measures to improve working conditions to prevent the departure of existing bus drivers.
Mayor Park Il-ha stated, "If bus operations are disrupted due to the shortage of village bus drivers, the damage directly affects the residents," adding, "We will focus on supporting not only new hires but also improving the treatment of existing bus drivers."
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