Reflecting Citizens' Opinions on Redundant Routes and Bus Interval Adjustments
Implementation Scheduled for October Next Year After Public Hearings and Feedback Collection
Gwangju City is moving forward with plans to reorganize city bus routes, reflecting the voices of its citizens.
On October 23, Gwangju City released the results of the “Please Change City Bus Routes Like This” survey, which was conducted both online and offline through the city’s official website, district offices, and administrative welfare center civil service desks from August 4 to 24. A total of 3,420 citizens participated in the survey.
According to the survey results, the most common suggestion from citizens was the need to reorganize routes that are redundant or excessively circuitous, with 592 responses highlighting this issue. Many respondents also emphasized the necessity of expanding trunk routes that connect major destinations more efficiently and reduce travel time by simplifying and straightening existing routes.
There was also significant demand for the creation of new routes connecting areas without subway service-such as Hyocheon and Seonun districts-or outlying regions to central living zones. Regarding bus operation times, citizens provided a variety of opinions, including requests for shorter intervals between buses (347 responses), increased number of buses (68 responses), reduced service during school vacations (46 responses), and stricter adherence to timetables (38 responses).
Citizens stressed the need to increase bus frequency during commuting hours and called for flexible scheduling during vacation periods to accommodate the needs of office workers and students attending private academies.
Other service improvement requests included: ▲ improving driver friendliness, such as reducing reckless driving and unkind behavior (352 responses); ▲ upgrading bus stops and vehicle facilities (234 responses); ▲ extending transfer times (24 responses); and ▲ enhancing the accuracy of the Bus Information System (BIS) (18 responses).
Based on the results of this survey, the city plans to prepare a route reorganization plan by January next year. This will be followed by public hearings from April to June to gather further opinions, with the final plan to be confirmed in July. The new route system is scheduled to be implemented starting in October 2026.
Bae Sangyoung, Director of the Public Transportation Division, stated, “This survey allowed us to closely identify the inconveniences citizens experience with public transportation. We will faithfully reflect citizens’ voices to provide more convenient and safer bus services.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
