Blueprint for Metropolitan Area Wide-Area Transportation Over the Next 20 Years Including Triple Expansion of Metropolitan Railways

100% Transition to Hydrogen and Electric Metropolitan Buses
Second Metropolitan Area Wide Transportation Basic Plan (2021~2040) Confirmed

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] In the future, the extension of metropolitan area railways within major metropolitan areas will be expanded more than threefold, establishing a convenient metropolitan transportation network comparable to that of leading advanced countries. Congestion on metropolitan buses will disappear, and metropolitan transportation services will be significantly improved, including a 100% transition to hydrogen and electric metropolitan buses.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Committee announced on the 27th that it has prepared the "2nd Basic Plan for Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation (2021?2040)," which presents the goals and implementation strategies for metropolitan transportation over the next 20 years, and finalized it after review by the National Transportation Committee.

The 2nd Basic Plan for Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation is a statutory 20-year plan established under the Special Act on Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Management. It was prepared through research projects by specialized institutions (Transportation Research Institute) and public hearings to gather opinions. In particular, based on the vision of "metropolitan transportation leading a relaxed daily life and mutual development of regions," it presents four implementation strategies and tasks considering future transportation demand forecasts and mega trends.

First, infrastructure to secure the basic right to metropolitan travel will be expanded. To this end, the metropolitan express railway network in the Seoul metropolitan area and metropolitan railways connecting key points in non-metropolitan areas will be expanded more than threefold by 2040. The proportion of the population benefiting from the metropolitan express railway in the Seoul metropolitan area will be expanded to 80% by 2040, and metropolitan railways connecting key points in non-metropolitan areas will be actively expanded. The road network within metropolitan areas will be strengthened through the expansion of ring roads and underground roads, effectively improving congestion on metropolitan transportation axes and realizing a 30-minute living zone within metropolitan areas.

Additionally, to create a convenient public transportation environment, low-cost, high-efficiency transportation modes and transfer centers will be expanded. The BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) network will be significantly expanded, and trams will be introduced and spread as transportation modes linked with S-BRT (Super-BRT) and GTX key stations to provide subway-level services. By 2040, 30 GTX-centered transfer centers will be established, reducing transfer times to under 3 minutes and transfer distances by half. Future-type transfer facilities supporting new transportation modes such as autonomous vehicles and UAM will be introduced.

The metropolitan transportation operation system will be improved with a user-centered approach. First, to strengthen the public nature of metropolitan buses and improve service levels, the quasi-public metropolitan bus system using a route bidding method will expand from 3 routes in 2020 to all routes in the Seoul metropolitan area by 2030. To eliminate metropolitan transportation blind spots, metropolitan bus routes will be expanded and additional operations supported, premium metropolitan buses introduced, and metropolitan bus services diversified to alleviate commuting congestion. User-centered metropolitan bus service standards will be established to systematically manage the service quality of all metropolitan bus routes.

A diverse and rational metropolitan transportation fare system and user-centered metropolitan transportation service evaluation will be introduced. The integrated transfer discount system currently operating in the Seoul metropolitan area and some local metropolitan areas will be expanded nationwide by 2030. The Altteul Transportation Card, which contributes to establishing a public transportation-centered traffic culture for carbon neutrality, will be expanded, and a "region-customized Altteul Transportation Card" linked with regional public transportation policies will be introduced. Fare diversification by usage time and seat class, as well as various season ticket products tailored to usage patterns, will expand user choice.

Based on mobility, convenience, and safety, metropolitan transportation service evaluation indicators will be developed, and regular surveys and evaluations will be conducted to support policy formulation and provide services tailored to regional characteristics.

An eco-friendly and smart transportation system will be established. The number of double-decker metropolitan electric buses, which began operation this year, will be expanded to 600 by 2040. By 2040, metropolitan buses will be 100% converted to eco-friendly fuel vehicles such as hydrogen and electric. Eco-friendly charging facilities at transfer hubs and eco-friendly transportation modes such as hydrogen trams developed through inter-ministerial R&D will be introduced.

To realize a technology-innovation-based smart transportation system, autonomous BRT and metropolitan buses will be gradually commercialized from 2025, and autonomous shuttles to improve accessibility to railroads and metropolitan buses will be introduced in 2026, introducing new metropolitan transportation technologies. In 2030, a metropolitan area integrated transportation service (M-MaaS) pilot project will be promoted, enabling integrated reservation and payment for all transportation modes via mobile, and the commercialization of an IoT-based integrated fare automatic payment system will be pursued. Platform-based metropolitan transportation services such as demand-responsive metropolitan mobility services will be advanced.

Along with this, to ensure the sustainability of the metropolitan transportation system, the use of national land space and metropolitan transportation improvement measures will be linked in a timely manner with large-scale development and construction projects, and investment in low-cost, high-efficiency metropolitan transportation centered on public transportation will be strengthened. Additionally, metropolitan transportation big data will be utilized and analyzed to support the establishment of effective metropolitan transportation policies, citizen participation and communication channels will be expanded, and issue-specific consultative bodies will be formed and operated with related local governments to establish metropolitan transportation governance for mutual development.

The goals and implementation strategies presented in this 2nd Basic Plan for Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation will be concretized through metropolitan area wide-area transportation implementation plans, which are established every five years, and sectoral plans (such as BRT and transfer centers).

Kim Kyuhyun, head of the Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Headquarters, said, "The 2nd Basic Plan for Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation is a cornerstone for effectively solving metropolitan transportation problems within metropolitan areas," adding, "It will enable citizens to move quickly and comfortably to major hubs without inconvenience."

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