"Bus Route Reorganization Smoothly Underway" ... Hong Nampyo, Changwon Special City Mayor, Inspects Bus Boarding Sites

Gyeongsang High School Commuting Route Boarding

Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, personally rode the school commute bus route to Gyeongsang High School and inspected the transfer system on the first day of the city bus route reorganization implementation on the 10th.

Until now, the Buk-myeon area had been continuously demanding improved accessibility to the urban center due to the rapid population increase in the Mudong and Gamgye districts. In this reorganization, Changwon City enhanced the convenience of city buses by reducing the intervals between buses through the establishment of the 3001 express route and the increase of routes 17 and 27.

In this process, the original route 19, which was a school commute route from Buk-myeon to Gyeongsang High School, was abolished, and the route changed to take bus 27 from Buk-myeon and Gamgye·Mudong to Changwon Station, then transfer to reach Gyeongsang High School, which caused complaints about inconvenience for students commuting to school.

Regarding this, the city explained that although the original route 19 required students to get off at Sogye terminus and walk more than 500 meters to the school, after the route reorganization, even when transferring to a village bus, the commuting time is not significantly different from before, and rather, since the bus stops right in front of the school, the safety of the commute route has been further secured.

This comprehensive city bus route reorganization, implemented for the first time in 18 years since 2005, focused on minimizing citizens' inconvenience by responding to changed urban conditions such as the past integration of Masan, Changwon, and Jinhae areas, and the expansion of suburban residential areas, while enhancing the efficiency of public transportation by easing route curvature and providing fast transfer convenience.

Mayor Hong said, “In the process of reorganizing the routes, we focused on reducing the intervals of trunk routes, but many complaints arose due to the local culture unfamiliar with transfers. Although the changed routes may feel inconvenient at first due to transfers, I ask citizens to try using them.” He added, “Since there may be points to improve after implementing the route reorganization, we will continue to inspect the routes and listen to citizens’ feedback to make improvements as soon as possible. For Changwon City to take the lead in low-carbon and climate crisis response, it must secure urban competitiveness through the revitalization of public transportation.”

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