Incheon City to Secure 200,000 Parking Spaces in Old Downtown by 2030... Coupled Trains to Be Introduced on Incheon Line 2

Adjustment and Expansion of City Bus Routes Connecting New and Old Downtown Areas
Expansion of Call Taxis for Disabled and Mobility Support for Bedridden Individuals

Incheon City will actively implement practical, everyday transportation policies, such as securing 200,000 parking spaces in old downtown areas by 2030 and introducing "coupled trains" to reduce subway congestion during commuting hours.

To address the chronic parking shortage in old downtown areas, the city plans to gradually expand parking capacity by a total of 200,000 spaces over the next six years, aiming to raise the current parking rate from 43% to 80% by 2030.

In the first half of this year, 2,709 parking spaces were supplied, achieving 56% of the target, while shared parking reached 4,949 spaces, or 24% of the goal. In the second half, an additional 2,735 spaces will be provided across 23 locations, starting with the groundbreaking for the Jungang Neighborhood Park public parking lot (294 spaces) and including Guwol Neighborhood Park. The city also plans to secure up to 16,540 shared parking spaces through agreements with public institutions.

The city will also purchase additional subway cars for Incheon Subway Line 2 to reduce congestion during commuting hours. To this end, preparations have begun to operate coupled trains, increasing the number of cars per train from the current two to four on Line 2. Coupled trains are operated by connecting two or more trains together.

Starting this year, the city will work to create an environment for coupled train operations by relocating boundary tracks, reinforcing platform safety facilities, and improving the announcement system. From 2027, the city will invest 63.1 billion won to add five more trains, with plans to introduce them by 2030. Incheon Line 2 has seen a sharp increase in passengers and congestion due to developments such as the Seo-gu Geomdan New Town and Lu1 City.

To respond to urban expansion and changes in living areas, the city is reorganizing city bus routes to be more demand-oriented. The selection of operators for six new routes with 38 buses has been completed, and service is set to begin in the second half of the year. In particular, a new route in the Yeongjong area will begin operation in December this year in connection with the opening of the Third Yeonryuk Bridge.

M6659 Metropolitan Bus. Incheon City

The city also plans to significantly expand transportation options for people with mobility challenges. It has added 20 special vehicles and 30 voucher taxis, as well as two additional dedicated metropolitan mobility vehicles. Fifty new drivers have been hired to further improve service quality.

In addition, a pilot program will be launched to support bedridden disabled individuals who have difficulty traveling to hospitals by connecting them with private ambulance services. The program will work with three private ambulance companies (22 vehicles) to support the transportation of bedridden disabled individuals throughout Incheon and to hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

To improve Seoul accessibility for Incheon citizens, metropolitan bus operations have also been significantly enhanced. Since the introduction of the quasi-public bus system in October last year, three routes and 97 buses have been added, resulting in a current operation rate of 77.4%. In the first half of this year, the M6461, M6462, and M6659 routes were launched, and the M6660 route will be newly introduced in August.

An Incheon City official stated, "We will do our best to provide convenient and safe transportation services throughout Incheon to realize transportation welfare that citizens can truly feel."