Launch of 'Seoul Companion Bus' for Commuting from Hwaseong Dongtan and Gimpo Pungmu

Pilot Project for Commuting Tailored to the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Seoul City will directly accompany commuters from the Gyeonggi and Incheon metropolitan areas on their way to work. The ‘Seoul Donghaeng Bus,’ which enables rapid travel to central Seoul areas such as Gangnam, is expected to greatly enhance daily convenience.

On the 7th, Seoul City announced that starting from the 21st, it will launch the ‘Visiting Seoul Donghaeng Bus’ to assist metropolitan residents from Gyeonggi and Incheon with commuting to major downtown areas of Seoul. This is a customized commuter bus service directly operated beyond Seoul for the first time, connecting metropolitan areas to Seoul, aimed at residents who face daily difficulties due to a lack of public transportation and long commuting hours.

The ‘Seoul Donghaeng Bus’ will operate based on three principles to provide balanced benefits to metropolitan residents: ▲ targeting areas with high demand for metropolitan buses ▲ serving transportation-disadvantaged areas lacking subway access ▲ operating flexible, temporary routes rather than fixed ones to improve efficiency through adaptable bus operations.

The first areas to start service are Dongtan in Hwaseong City and Pungmu-dong in Gimpo City. These new towns were selected due to their high population commuting to Seoul and the need for bus routes connecting to other transportation modes such as subways. To differentiate from existing Seoul city bus routes, a new numbering system combining ‘Seoul + serial number’ will be applied, initially assigning Seoul01 and Seoul02, and unique bus wrapping designs will be used so that citizens can easily recognize the ‘Seoul Donghaeng Bus’ anywhere.

The ‘Seoul01’ route will serve Dongtan in Hwaseong City, one of the most congested areas during commuting hours due to the metropolitan bus standing ban. The route runs from Dongtan 2 New Town in Hwaseong City to Gangnam Station. Unlike the previous route entering Gangnam-daero from Banpo IC on the Gyeongbu Expressway, this route will operate in the opposite direction, presenting a new model to alleviate congestion on Gangnam-daero.

The ‘Seoul02’ route will serve Pungmu-dong in Gimpo City, an area where recent congestion on the Gimpo Gold Line has threatened the safety of metropolitan residents. The route runs from Homeplus in Pungmu-dong, Gimpo City, to Gimpo Airport Station, playing a role in easing congestion on the Gimpo Gold Line.

After launching the first service, Seoul City will continue monitoring to identify other areas in need of the Seoul Donghaeng Bus. The bus will not remain fixed in one area; if public transportation conditions improve due to subway openings or new bus routes, the service will be redirected to new demand areas. Additionally, the city plans to actively propose this service during metropolitan bus route consultations with the Metropolitan Transport Commission, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon City based on operational effectiveness analysis.

Alongside this, Seoul City will actively cooperate in improving metropolitan transportation to reduce congestion and enhance accessibility during commuting hours. However, to avoid causing additional inconvenience such as traffic jams when entering Seoul, new routes will be continuously explored and guided for areas like Gangnam and downtown. For routes entering secondary downtown areas, Seoul City will actively negotiate for increased bus numbers and new route establishment.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of the Seoul City Urban Transportation Office, stated, “We fully empathize with the hardships metropolitan residents have faced daily during their commutes, struggling every minute and second. We are doing our best to prepare multifaceted measures to improve metropolitan transportation convenience. We hope that the ‘Seoul Donghaeng Bus,’ directly deployed by Seoul City to transportation-disadvantaged areas, will resolve chronic mobility inconveniences and play a groundbreaking role in promoting the co-growth of the metropolitan area.”

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