The First 'Express Bus Transfer Station' on Seoul Olympic-daero ... Direct Connection to Dangsan Station

Direct Transfer to Subway and Bus on Urban Expressway ... Targeted Opening Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Transfer stops will be established on urban expressways such as Olympic-daero and Gangbyeonbuk-ro to allow users of metropolitan buses in Seoul and the metropolitan area to transfer directly to nearby subways or city buses.

Seoul City announced on the 19th that it has started the "Urban Expressway Transfer Stop Installation Plan Establishment Project" to create transfer stops at Dangsan Station, Yangjae, and Gwangnaru (Gangbyeon) starting earlier this month.

Urban expressway transfer stops are facilities equipped with bus stops and pedestrian connections that allow metropolitan bus passengers to transfer directly to subways or city buses without exiting the expressway interchanges.

Improving transfer convenience between public transportation modes and dispersing metropolitan bus demand to subways are expected to significantly reduce travel times for metropolitan bus users coming from Gyeonggi and Incheon into Seoul. At the same time, it is anticipated to alleviate traffic congestion in Seoul by suppressing the entry of crowded metropolitan buses into downtown roads and contribute to improving air quality.

The first project site, Dangsan Station, is a transfer station for subway lines 2 and 9 with excellent accessibility to downtown and Gangnam areas, making it a location with heavy metropolitan bus traffic. The distance from Olympic-daero is about 150 meters, making it an optimal location for installing an urban expressway transfer stop, according to Seoul City.

Currently, metropolitan bus stops are located near Dangsan Station, so metropolitan buses enter the city to pick up and drop off passengers before returning to Olympic-daero. However, once the transfer stop is installed at Dangsan Station, 25 routes with 60,000 metropolitan bus passengers daily entering Seoul from Gyeonggi and Incheon will be able to board and alight on Olympic-daero without passing through congested city sections and transfer to the subway, reducing travel time.

From the metropolitan bus companies' perspective, reduced driving time leads to increased operation frequency, helping maintain dispatch intervals and stable operations. In particular, metropolitan buses entering the stop near Dangsan Station must turn right from Nodeul-ro toward Dangsan Station, a narrow downhill section under an overpass where safety accidents have frequently occurred.

This urban expressway transfer stop installation is the first project promoted through close cooperation with the Metropolitan Transportation Committee under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which serves as the control tower for metropolitan area transportation issues. The city plans and promotes the project to improve transportation convenience for metropolitan citizens, with proactive institutional and administrative support from the central government. Seoul City aims to accelerate the project by completing design and consultations with related organizations within this year, targeting opening as early as next year.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said, "We have been able to resolve the metropolitan bus turnaround and transfer facility construction project, which has been a pressing and difficult issue in metropolitan transportation, through close consultation with the Metropolitan Transportation Committee. We will closely cooperate to ensure efficient processing of necessary permits, route adjustments, and cost-sharing for the first project, the Dangsan Station metropolitan bus transfer stop."

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