Kimhae Passenger Service Escalates to Extremes... Gyeongnam Province Urgently Deploys Temporary Charter Buses

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Gyeongsangnam-do announced on the 24th that it will prepare emergency transportation measures, such as urgently deploying temporary charter buses, as the Gimhae Passenger Union has announced a strike scheduled for the 25th.

Gimhae Passenger has been negotiating labor-management agreements over issues such as a decrease in passengers due to the resurgence of COVID-19, excessive accumulated debt, and delayed wages for workers, but the second mediation meeting of the Local Labor Commission on the 23rd ended in failure. Accordingly, the union has announced a strike starting with the first bus at 6 a.m. on the 25th.

The province plans to immediately deploy 7 temporary charter buses making 37 trips daily on the Busan West~Jangyu route. For other routes, it plans to encourage citizens to transfer between city buses and the light rail through public announcements to the public.

Additionally, in consultation with Gimhae City, during the strike, the number of local taxis will be expanded to 1,500 vehicles for operation, and it will encourage increased operation and deployment of reserve vehicles by bus companies not participating in the strike.

If the situation worsens, the province plans to establish multifaceted measures such as improvement orders to allow other transportation companies to replace the Gimhae Passenger routes in consultation with other transportation companies.

A Gyeongnam Province official said, "It is regrettable that the strike of intercity buses, which are the citizens' means of transportation, will cause great inconvenience," and added, "We will do our best to restore normal operations as soon as possible."

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