Last Year, Seoul Citizens Decreased Use of Public Transportation but Increased Use of Ddareungi

Seoul City Analyzes 296.5 Billion Traffic Big Data... Announces 2020 Public Transit Usage Changes
Public Transit Use Down 25.9%, Ddareungi Up 24.6%... Impact of COVID-19 on Reduced Movement and Increased Preference for Personal Transport

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] While the use of public transportation such as buses and subways decreased due to COVID-19, interest in personal mobility means increased significantly, resulting in a substantial rise in the use of Ttareungi bike-sharing service.

According to Seoul City on the 24th, the total number of bus and subway rides last year was 3.4 billion, a decrease of 1.2 billion rides (25.9%) compared to 2019, whereas the total number of Ttareungi rentals was 23.7 million, an increase of 4.67 million rides (24.6%). Additionally, the number of registered vehicles in Seoul reached 3,157,361, an increase of 33,204 vehicles (1.06%) compared to 2019. Seoul City analyzed this transportation big data and published the booklet "Seoul Transportation in Data 2020," which contains interesting transportation statistics of citizens in daily life.

On average, a citizen paid 1,108 KRW to travel to their destination using public transportation, transferring 1.25 times (with a transfer time of 6.7 minutes), and traveled a total of 32.9 minutes covering 11.2 km. Compared to 2019, the average fare increased by 5 KRW, the number of trips decreased by 0.06, the travel distance increased by 0.1 km, and travel time decreased by 0.5 minutes.

The proportion of “single rides” (direct trips) using only one public transportation mode without transfers increased by 4.3% compared to 2019. Conversely, “two-ride trips” involving transfers decreased by 3.29%, and among these, the usage rates of village buses and circular buses dropped by 27.3% and 34.7%, respectively. This suggests that for short-distance travel, citizens preferred walking or personal mobility options such as Ttareungi over transfers.

The decrease in public transportation usage and transfer frequency due to COVID-19 led to reduced congestion inside vehicles, resulting in shorter travel times. Compared to 2019, the average travel distance by public transportation (bus + subway) increased by 0.1 km, while the average travel time decreased by 30 seconds. This is analyzed to be due to reduced transfer frequency and decreased dwell time (station stop time) inside public transportation vehicles, leading to an overall reduction in passengers’ average travel time.

By transportation mode, buses were most used during commuting hours (8-9 AM), subways and Ttareungi during evening rush hours (6-7 PM), and taxis were most used during late-night hours (0-1 AM) when public transportation services ended. Looking at usage by bus stops, subway stations, and Ttareungi rental stations, the bus stop at Miasageori Station in Gangbuk-gu recorded the highest daily usage with 8,158 rides; Gangnam Station (Line 2) had 69,311 subway rides; the Ttareungi rental station in front of Exit 1 of Ttukseom Resort Station had 382 rentals; and the area near Yeouinaru Station on Line 5 had the highest taxi usage with 4,676 rides.

"Seoul Transportation in Data 2020" was published to share the analysis results of Seoul citizens’ transportation usage patterns using transportation big data with the public and to be useful in discovering transportation policies. Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Seoul City Urban Transportation Office, said, “Although public transportation usage decreased last year due to citizens’ voluntary social distancing amid COVID-19, proactive quarantine measures allowed us to maintain a safe transportation system without infection cases through public transportation.” He added, “Seoul City will continue to strive to enhance citizens’ convenience in using Seoul transportation through data-driven scientific policy implementation.”

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