Wanju-gun Public Village Bus Introduced as an Excellent Case of Regulatory Innovation by Jeonbuk Province

Improvement of the Three Major Effects: Economic Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Convenience

[Wanju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho] Wanju-gun announced on the 25th that the operation of ‘Bureumbureung Bus,’ Jeonbuk’s first publicly operated village bus, has improved three major effects: economic feasibility, efficiency, and convenience, and has been introduced as an excellent case of regulatory innovation by Jeonbuk Province.

According to the county, the ‘2021 Regulatory Innovation Best Practices Collection’ recently published by Jeonbuk Province introduced the county’s provision of public transportation service through the ‘Bureumbureung~Bus’ as an excellent case in the ‘Rural Support’ category.

The casebook evaluated, “Wanju-gun, which does not have its own local city buses, relied on nearby Jeonju City to operate buses, causing several inconveniences such as financial burdens (subsidies) on the county and route dissatisfaction,” and “Wanju-gun decided to provide a fully public transportation service to ensure stable public transportation service for residents.”

Wanju-gun, after reaching a ‘step-by-step implementation agreement for the introduction of the Wanju trunk line system’ in August 2019, expanded call bus operations to all villages (January 2020), drafted a village bus operation agreement (April 2021), and started operating village buses in the Iseo area in June last year.

In particular, the ‘Bureumbureung~Call Bus,’ which responds to local residents’ demands, currently operates 10 vehicles across 5 myeon (townships), and the county-operated ‘Bureumbureung Village Bus’ plans to gradually expand operations by promoting the 3rd phase in the second half of this year following the currently implemented 1st and 2nd phases.

Additionally, Jeonbuk Province’s casebook also introduced Wanju-gun’s ‘Expansion of eligibility requirements for water bill and other fee reductions’ as one of the excellent cases in the ‘Improvement of Residents’ Convenience’ category.

To strengthen social security for livelihood and medical benefit recipients, Wanju-gun revised the enforcement regulations in May last year to allow livelihood and medical benefit recipients to receive water bill reductions even if they do not use the water meter individually, thereby further strengthening social security for these recipients.

Jeonbuk Province’s ‘2021 Regulatory Innovation Best Practices Collection’ draws attention by providing detailed information on 29 excellent cases of regulatory innovation in three areas: △Improvement of Residents’ Convenience △Resolution of Corporate Difficulties △Rural Support, along with regulatory reporting offices, prior consulting audits, and active administrative exemption systems.

Wanju=Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho stonepeak@asiae.co.kr

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