Gyeonggi Province Establishes Comprehensive Public Transportation Plan

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 14th that it has established a "Comprehensive Public Transportation Plan" that will invest a total of 942 billion won through 2011 to comprehensively overhaul its public transportation system.

The province decided at a final report session for the comprehensive public transportation plan research project to set six improvement areas and strongly pursue measures to increase accessibility to the public transportation system, secure punctuality and comfort, and enhance speed.

Accordingly, the province plans to increase bus usage from the current 30% to 33% by 2011 through the establishment of an optimal bus route system, while increasing subway usage from 8.7% to 14.5%, in exchange for reducing private car usage from 44.1% to 42.5%.

The province expects that with appropriate improvements to the route system, bus operating speeds will increase from the current 20 km/h to 30 km/h.

In addition, to unify the Seoul metropolitan area's public transportation fare system, the province will consolidate the fare structure for general, seat, and express seat buses—similar to Seoul and Incheon—into an efficient fare system based on basic sections and operating distance.

To establish a convenient transfer system, the province will designate nine radial public transportation axes and install a total of 23 hub transfer facilities.

Among existing bus stops, those at Sadang Station and Moran Station will be improved, while transfer facilities at Deokso Station, Guri Station, Sangok 2 Bridge, and Goyang Sports Complex will be newly expanded.

In particular, under a bus upgrade strategy, a total of 2,910 high-end buses equipped with low-floor vehicles, wheelchair access platforms, automatic transmissions, and eco-friendly fuel will be introduced by 2014, with all subsequently produced vehicles to be replaced with low-floor buses.

A bus information system that comprehensively collects and provides real-time bus operation information will also begin full operation starting next year.

To address the bus companies' annual deficits of 70-80 billion won, the province will introduce management and service evaluations for bus companies to increase management efficiency and promote service improvements.

The province estimates that 942 billion won in total will be required for these projects, including 328.3 billion won from provincial funds, and plans to employ strategies including efficient use of traffic taxes, securing additional local driving taxes, and expanding public transportation facilities in connection with large-scale development projects.