"After COVID-19, Traffic Policy Efficiency Must Shift to Safety: Gyeonggi Research Institute"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Since COVID-19, there have been calls to shift Gyeonggi Province's transportation policy from efficiency to safety for public transportation users, including the introduction of flexible working hours and the expansion of city bus supply to alleviate public transportation congestion.

The Gyeonggi Research Institute diagnosed changes in travel patterns and transportation trends caused by COVID-19 and published a report titled "Post-COVID-19 Transportation Policy: From Efficiency to Safety" on the 24th, which includes future public transportation congestion management measures.

According to the report, the number of city bus users in Gyeonggi Province decreased by up to 43.1% in the first week of March compared to the same period last year, following the 31st confirmed COVID-19 case in South Korea.

By city and county, Gwacheon-si, where many public institutions are located, saw a high decrease rate of 54.8%, and Icheon-si, home to large corporations such as Hynix, experienced a 52.9% decrease.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, weekday traffic volume on the Seosuwon?Uiwang Expressway decreased by up to 11.2% compared to the same period last year, and weekend traffic volume dropped by up to 25.0% year-on-year.

Additionally, parcel delivery volumes in February and March increased by 32% and 29%, respectively, compared to the same months last year. This is higher than the average annual growth rate of 10% over the past seven years.

The report identified the following as representative changes due to the spread of COVID-19: ▲decrease in passenger movement and increase in logistics movement ▲reduction in public transportation demand among commuters and expansion of private car preference ▲sharp increase in private car traffic on weekend arterial roads ▲reduction in government budget for social overhead capital (SOC) projects.

To respond to the changed daily life, major cities worldwide are introducing policies focused on strengthening the safety of public transportation use.

These include prohibiting front-door boarding for bus users, installing protective barriers for drivers, providing temporary bicycle lanes, and enforcing rules such as mandatory mask-wearing inside vehicles.

Kim Chae-man, Senior Research Fellow at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, suggested, "Our society should also proactively implement strong public transportation congestion mitigation policies, expand transportation infrastructure to alleviate congestion, establish transportation quarantine support systems, and create a contactless parcel delivery ecosystem to respond to changes in transportation trends."

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