"Full Again": The Daily Commuter War for Metropolitan Buses

[Anchor]

Office workers commuting between Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, and Seoul are engaged in a daily war to board metropolitan buses every morning and evening. The demand far exceeds the number of available seats, and there is no clear solution in sight.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon reports from the scene.

[Reporter]

It is 6:00 PM at a metropolitan bus stop in Myeong-dong, Seoul, where a long line has formed.

As the number indicating remaining seats drops one by one, the commuters' hearts sink.

[Commuter: That one just passed, it says zero seats, so I can't board. I have to wait for the next one.]

Since standing is prohibited on metropolitan buses that cross city and provincial boundaries, passengers often find themselves waiting for the next bus, and even the one after that.

[Im Yun-mi/Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province: If I try to board during rush hour, I almost always have to let two buses go by... It's like that almost every day between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.]

Fearing they might be late, commuters are even more anxious during their morning commute, with long lines forming at bus stops as early as 6:30 AM on weekdays.

Some even travel to earlier stops along the route just to secure a seat.

[Lee Yu-min/Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province: (What time are you due at work?) 9:00 AM, but I think I'll be a little late today. I think they really need to increase the number of buses. I don't know if they expect us to just wait, and I have no idea when the GTX will finally open.]

This is a metropolitan bus stop heading to Seoul from Dongtan New Town in Gyeonggi Province.

It is now just past 8:00 AM.

As you can see, people are still lined up waiting to commute to Seoul.

This commuting war occurs because there are many people working in Seoul, but a shortage of metropolitan buses and alternative transportation options.

The Great Train eXpress (GTX), which is intended to solve this problem, has faced repeated construction delays on significant sections.

In fact, seven out of ten metropolitan buses traveling between Yongin or Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and downtown Seoul are completely full during weekday morning rush hours.

[Lee Cheol-gi/Professor of Transportation Systems Engineering at Ajou University: Cities with a high dependency on metropolitan buses, such as Yongin, Suwon, and Hwaseong, are areas where the commuting population is concentrated in regions not yet reached by the GTX. Because there are no real alternatives...]

While there is a flood of complaints demanding a significant increase in metropolitan buses during rush hours, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is reluctant, citing the saturation of downtown bus-only lanes.

With no clear solution other than the opening of the GTX, the exhausting commute for office workers living in the metropolitan area is bound to continue for some time.

Reported by Lee Sang-hak | Video by Kim Jong-tae | Graphics by Kang Yun-jeong
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.