Incheon City Bus Route Reorganization Delayed to December... Discovery of Old Downtown Circulation Routes and More

Introduction of On-Demand Buses in Yeongjongdo This Year
New Express Routes Operating Between Songdo and Cheongna
Public Hearing in June, Bus Policy Committee Review Scheduled for August

Incheon City Bus
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City has decided to postpone the bus route restructuring, originally scheduled for July, to December due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The restructuring plan is expected to include the introduction of a new concept of transportation, the demand-responsive bus (I-MOD), and the establishment of express routes operating between Songdo and Cheongna.

According to the city on the 16th, the public hearing on the bus route restructuring, which was scheduled to be held this month, has inevitably been delayed due to COVID-19, and the timing of the bus route restructuring has been postponed from the originally planned July to the end of this year.

The city plans to hold a public hearing as soon as the COVID-19 situation stabilizes, followed by review by the Bus Policy Committee and public promotion, and implement the bus route restructuring by the end of December. Instead of rushing the restructuring, the city intends to prepare more substantial measures.

First, new small-sized circular bus routes that operate even in the back alleys of the old downtown area will be discovered.

For transportation-vulnerable residents in old downtown areas such as Dong-gu, Michuhol-gu, and Bupyeong-gu, the city plans to strengthen these routes as community-based welfare lines connecting subways, traditional markets, and hospitals. Additionally, demand-responsive circular buses will be newly established to facilitate smooth commuting and school transportation for residents in new housing districts such as Geomdan, Cheongna, Seochang, Nonhyeon, and Songdo 6 and 8 districts.

Express routes operating between Songdo and Cheongna, part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, will also be newly created. These routes will connect Songdo 6 and 8 districts, the New International Passenger Terminal area, and Cheongna in a north-south straight line.

By adjusting unprofitable routes and establishing new routes in demand areas, travel time, which previously took over 1 hour and 30 minutes via transfers between subway and bus, is expected to be reduced by a remarkable 50 minutes by using the highway between Gimpo and Incheon.

The city will also incorporate I-MOD into the route restructuring. Following the selection of I-MOD in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s 'Smart Challenge Main Project,' the city plans to improve convenience in areas with poor public transportation systems.

I-MOD is a system where passengers call a bus via an app, and the bus dynamically adjusts its route in real time to quickly reach the nearest stop where the passenger is waiting. In Yeongjong International City, eight 16-seat vehicles were pilot-operated from December last year to March this year.

During the pilot operation, 12,045 people, about 12% of Yeongjong International City’s population, used I-MOD 28,800 times, resulting in reductions of 5 minutes in public transportation waiting time and 9 minutes in travel time.

The city plans to start with Yeongjong area as phase 1 this year, expand to Songdo and Namdong Industrial Complex as phase 2 next year, and finally extend to Geomdan and Gyeyang areas in 2022 as phase 3.

The city will apply scientific analysis methods using big data for this route restructuring. By analyzing user travel patterns through mobile data and transportation card usage, the city plans to derive the optimal bus route network.

Additionally, the city will analyze route curvature considering deviation ranges from the shortest route, identify maximum overlapping sections of similar routes, and improve them. Through this, the city aims to guarantee citizens’ minimum mobility rights and reflect improvements in the 52-hour workweek system by reducing working hours for transportation workers.

An Incheon city official stated, "Since the timing of the city bus route restructuring has been delayed, we will increase the number of public hearings from the originally planned 10 times to more than 40 times to create a restructuring plan that reflects citizens’ opinions as much as possible."

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