Namyangju to Switch Route 115 City Bus to Public Management System Next Month

[Suwon Ilbo=Eom In-yong] Namyangju City announced on the 20th that it will transition Route 115 city bus to a "public management system" starting next month to resolve issues that have been identified as chronic problems in the Togyewon area.

Previously, the city established Route 115 in June of last year as a countermeasure following the closure of Seoul city bus Route 1156.

Subsequently, the number of buses in operation decreased from 8 to 4 due to accumulated losses by the transport operator and a shortage of transportation workers, and dispatch intervals extended to as much as 50 minutes, causing significant inconvenience for citizens commuting to Seoul.

In response, the city deployed 2 charter buses in July, operating 4 runs each during rush hours in both directions between Togyewon Ssangyong Yega Apartment and Seokgyejeok Station as a temporary measure to address resident inconvenience.

To achieve a more fundamental resolution, the city discussed switching Route 115 to public management with Gyeonggi Province from July onwards, and after a 4-month bidding process, decided to convert a total of 8 buses to the city bus public management system.

As a result, the dispatch interval is expected to be reduced to a minimum of approximately 15 minutes during commute hours, and the last bus departure time is expected to be extended by approximately 1 hour.

Namyangju Mayor Joo Gwang-deok said, "We made the decision to transition to the public management system despite difficult financial circumstances to resolve citizens' transportation inconvenience," and added, "We will continue to improve transportation convenience through ongoing monitoring."