Gyeonggi Province Falls Short in Transport Policy Coordination Functions

Gyeonggi Province's metropolitan-level transportation policy functions are failing to perform their role, caught between the central government and lower-level municipal authorities.

The Gyeonggi Research Institute revealed in a report titled "Rationalization Plan for Gyeonggi Province's Transportation Policy Coordination Functions" released on the 11th that the establishment of transportation policy is vested in the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and city/county mayors, leaving the province's functions as a metropolitan entity severely restricted by law.

As a result, urban transportation improvement plans, bus route plans, and road plans are not being established in an integrated and metropolitan manner according to transportation zones based on similar living spheres, creating an obstacle to improving the transportation environment in the Seoul metropolitan area, the report noted.

In the case of metropolitan buses traveling between Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, the licensing authority rests with city and county mayors, and cities and counties face difficulties in coordinating routes with Seoul due to limitations in their negotiating and coordination power.

Furthermore, in the case of the Gumi-Jukjeon connecting road between Seongnam and Yongin, Seongnam decided not to connect while Yongin decided to connect the same road, resulting in contradictory decisions. During this process, the province failed to exercise any significant coordination power and approved both plans, creating confusion.

The report proposed the following measures to enhance the province's metropolitan transportation policy coordination functions: ▲transferring metropolitan bus management to Gyeonggi Province ▲enhancing the role of the Seoul Metropolitan Transportation Association ▲revising laws and systems to strengthen metropolitan functions ▲establishing new planning and implementation organizations for the Seoul metropolitan region.