Seoul City Buses to Resume Normal Weekday Night Operations from the 5th... Congestion Alleviation

Weekday Night Service Normalization Begins, Prioritizing 71 Routes with High Onboard Congestion

On the 31st, in line with the implementation of social distancing level 2.5 in the metropolitan area, citizens are boarding buses at the Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center as the number of nighttime city bus operations in Seoul decreases. The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 30th that from this day until the 6th of next month, city bus operations after 9 p.m. will be reduced to 80% of the normal level. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will normalize the reduced nighttime operation of city buses after 10 PM on weekdays, which had been implemented in accordance with the social distancing level 2 measures.

On the 2nd, Seoul announced that starting from the 5th, selective normalization of nighttime weekday operations will be implemented based on city bus congestion levels, which is expected to improve congestion and respond to increased travel demand due to passenger growth.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 by reducing nighttime traffic, city bus operations after 10 PM on weekdays had been reduced by up to 20% since November 24 of last year. However, since March, some routes during late-night hours on weekdays have shown an increasing trend in passenger numbers and congestion due to eased business restrictions.

Accordingly, among the 356 Seoul city bus routes currently operating with reduced service, selective and phased normalization will be implemented for 71 routes where "onboard congestion exceeds 80% for three or more days in a week" after 10 PM.

Seoul will continue to conduct ongoing monitoring and consider selective and phased normalization of operations on routes where congestion occurs. Passenger numbers and congestion levels will be monitored regularly to review the normalization of nighttime weekday operations.

For routes maintaining congestion levels below 80% during nighttime weekday hours, reduced operations after 10 PM will continue to enforce social distancing, with ongoing monitoring to assess passenger increase trends and the possibility of normalizing nighttime weekday operations. Additionally, Seoul’s representative demand-responsive public transportation services, such as the Owl Bus and Squirrel Bus, will actively support late-night and commuting hour travel.

No Byeong-chun, Director of the Bus Policy Division at Seoul City, stated, “As social distancing levels adjust and economic activities normalize, the number of city bus users during weekday nights is gradually increasing, so we will normalize operations to prevent COVID-19 spread and improve citizen mobility.” He added, “To prevent further spread of infection, cooperation with quarantine guidelines such as early return home and refraining from unnecessary travel is still necessary, so we ask for active participation and cooperation from all citizens.”

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