Stable Incheon City Bus Route Reorganization... Complaints Decrease, Limited License Route Closure Causes Inconvenience

Route Adjustments Increased from 197 to 205 by End of Last December
80% Reduction in Complaints Compared to 2016 Major Overhaul
16% Increase in Transport Revenue... Big Data Demand Analysis Hits Target
Resolved Route Adjustment Complaints and Discovered Alternative Routes Through Research

Incheon City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The large-scale revision of Incheon city bus routes, implemented on December 31 last year, appears to be settling in steadily.

According to Incheon City on the 20th, the route revision was the first large-scale change in four and a half years since July 2016, changing from 197 routes to a total of 205 routes through 83 route modifications, 24 route discontinuations, and 32 new routes.

Regarding this, a total of 1,704 complaints were recorded from the first day of the route revision implementation until the 17th, received through the National Petition System and the 120 Michuhol Call Center. This represents about an 80.7% decrease compared to the 8,855 complaints received in 2016.

Transportation revenue for one week before and after the revision also increased by about 16%, from approximately 2.5 billion KRW to 2.9 billion KRW, indicating that the demand analysis using big data was accurate.

Incheon City cites two main factors behind the early stabilization of the route revision.

First, it is analyzed that providing sufficient information about the changed routes in advance through citizen communication and time- and target-specific promotions was effective.

Since July last year, the city held citizen briefings to gather public opinions on the route changes, and after announcing the routes in October, posted detailed changes on the website to resolve inquiries. In December, guidebooks were distributed to all households so that anyone could check the revision information.

Additionally, the bus operation information system related to the route revision operated normally, which seems to have reduced citizen inconvenience and confusion.

The city closely coordinated with private companies such as Kakao and Naver, conducting pre-verification two weeks before the revision to minimize possible errors. As a result, on the day of the revision, citizens were able to reliably check route and arrival information through apps, significantly reducing complaints about initial inconveniences.

Currently, most complaints received by the city concern inconveniences caused by the discontinuation of limited licenses. Due to the reduction of 13 routes and 141 limited-license buses in this revision, some requests for route adjustments have been made.

An Incheon City official stated, "We plan to promptly resolve complaints by holding a route adjustment subcommittee next month," adding, "Furthermore, through the 'Route Adjustment Monitoring and Stabilization Research Project' running until July this year, we will systematically analyze complaints and identify alternative routes to ensure the early stabilization of the route revision."

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