Seoul Subway Had 2.7 Billion Users Last Year... Gangnam Station the Most Used

Seoul Metro Announces 2019 Passenger Transport Analysis Results
Average Daily Ridership of 7,469,180

On the morning of the 20th, when the railroad union announced a strike, commuters at a subway station in Seoul were using the normally operating subway. The railroad union will begin an indefinite general strike from 9 a.m. that day, demanding the reinforcement of safety personnel. This is the first indefinite strike by the railroad union in about three years since the 74-day strike in 2016. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The number of Seoul subway users reached 2.7 billion last year.

Seoul Metro announced the results of its 2019 passenger transport analysis on the 28th.

According to the report, the total number of passengers last year, including Lines 1 to 8 and phases 2 and 3 of Line 9, was counted at 2,726.25 million, averaging 7,469,180 passengers per day. For Lines 1 to 8 alone, 2,671.42 million people used the subway, marking a 1.1% increase compared to 2,642.44 million in 2018.

The station with the highest number of users was Gangnam Station on Line 2, with an average of 141,597 passengers per day. Songpa Station on Line 8 showed the highest passenger growth rate, increasing by 73.0% from the previous year to an average daily ridership of 14,982. Following were Hongdaeipgu Station (129,199 passengers) and Jamsil Station (118,244 passengers). Conversely, the stations with the lowest ridership were Dunchon Oryu Station on Line 9 (1,529 passengers per day), Dorimcheon Station on Line 2 (1,979 passengers), and Sindap Station (2,048 passengers).

The day with the highest number of passengers last year was the Friday before Christmas holidays, with approximately 9.15 million users, while the lowest was July 28th, with about 3.86 million. Seoul Metro attributed the low ridership to it being a Sunday during the summer vacation period and the rainy season.

On weekdays, Friday had the highest average daily ridership at 8.57 million, while Monday was relatively lower at 8.03 million. Sundays and public holidays saw ridership levels at about half the weekday average, around 4.45 million.

By time of day, one-third of all passengers used the subway during the morning and evening rush hours, from 7 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. The late-night hours (midnight to 1 a.m.) had the lowest ridership at 0.6%.

By line, Line 2 recorded the highest daily average ridership with 2,224,548 passengers, more than double that of Line 7, which ranked second with 1,041,487 passengers per day (13.9%).

Last year, the total number of fare-exempt passengers on Lines 1 to 8 was 274 million, accounting for 15.5% of total ridership. The number of fare-exempt passengers increased by more than 13 million compared to the previous year, with seniors aged 65 and older accounting for an increase of 12.25 million.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.