Impact of COVID-19... Changwon City Bus Ridership Drops Sharply

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Due to the impact of COVID-19, the public transportation usage rate in Changwon City, Gyeongnam, sharply dropped in March and April.

Jeon Sangmin, a research fellow at the Urban Space Research Office of the Changwon City Policy Research Institute, published 'Analysis and Challenges of COVID-19's Impact on Changwon City Buses' in the Changwon Policy Forum released on the 1st.

Research Fellow Jeon analyzed Changwon City's transportation card data to identify changes in city bus users.

According to the data, in March, the number of city bus users in Changwon was 3,776,653, nearly half (47.2%) less than the 7,153,056 users during the same period last year.

In April, the number of users slightly increased to 4,215,655. However, compared to 7,221,579 users in the same period a year ago, it still decreased by 41.7%.

March and April were periods when 'social distancing' measures such as postponing school attendance for elementary, middle, and high schools, self-quarantine, and remote work were strictly enforced to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During this time, more than 30 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Changwon City.

Research Fellow Jeon analyzed that due to the 'social distancing' policy, the floating population decreased, and given the nature of public transportation where many unspecified people must sit or stand in close proximity, people avoided using city buses, leading to a significant drop in users.

He pointed out that while reducing supply such as cutting bus services is inevitable to prevent virus spread through city buses during the COVID-19 situation, there is a policy dilemma in maintaining citizens' right to mobility.

In fact, Changwon City reduced city bus services from around February 28 to May 18. Normally, 307 city buses operated 1,746 mainline routes daily, but this was reduced to 226 buses operating 1,181 routes daily.

Considering that city buses are the only means of transportation in Changwon City due to the absence of urban rail, Research Fellow Jeon suggested moving away from uniform service cuts during disasters such as viral diseases and introducing a flexible city bus operation system based on demand. He also recommended strengthening quarantine activities such as regular disinfection focused on bus stops with high usage and installing automatic hand sanitizers. Additionally, he proposed informing citizens of congestion levels by route through bus stop information displays with statuses like 'Congested,' 'Moderate,' and 'Available' to help them choose buses.

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