Busan City Holds Opening Ceremony for Busan-style DRT Bus 'Tabara'

Busan City will hold the opening ceremony for the Busan-style Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) bus ‘Tabara’ at 10 a.m. on September 1st at Osiria Station on the Donghae Line in Gijang-gun.

Promotional poster for Tabara (TABARA).

The opening ceremony will be held concisely with the attendance of the Director of the Busan City Transportation Bureau, city council members, the mayor of Gijang-gun, related organization officials, and citizens, following the order of ▲progress report ▲welcome speech by the Director of the Busan City Transportation Bureau ▲congratulatory speech by the mayor of Gijang-gun ▲tape-cutting ceremony.

Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) is a demand-responsive transportation system that generates an optimal route in real time according to passenger calls without fixed times or routes, flexibly transporting passengers. It is a public transportation service that combines only the advantages of city buses and taxis.

When calling DRT via an app, it provides a service that conveniently transports users from their location to a bus stop near their destination like a taxi. It is a passenger transportation business suitable for tourist spots or rural fishing villages where public transportation demand is low.

Users can pay only the city bus fare and travel faster than a bus, and transportation operators can reduce costs such as fuel expenses by operating only when there is a call, making it highly preferred by both sides.

The DRT introduced by Busan City this time is one of the 12 tasks in three areas of the ‘Busan-style Public Transportation Innovation Plan’ announced by Mayor Park Hyung-jun in March.

In February this year, the city was finally selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s regional tourism transportation improvement contest project, and after an evaluation committee and operator selection, it launched the Busan-style Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) bus called ‘Tabara.’

‘Tabara’ is a term written as it sounds from the Busan dialect word ‘Tabara.’

Tabara will first be pilot-operated for one year targeting Gijang-gun, where tourist attractions are being developed.

It will operate targeting 15 designated stops including major hubs in Gijang-gun such as Osiria Station, Gijang Station, and major tourist spots in Gijang such as Osiria Tourist Complex, Orangdae Park, and Gongsu Village, providing a special tourism experience combining information and communication technology (ICT) and tourism.

At the end of September, a dedicated app service for foreign tourists will also be launched to provide various tourism and festival information and Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) services to overseas tourists visiting Gijang-gun, and it will be combined with foreign tourist-linked products such as the Visit Busan Pass to enhance competitiveness.

The city expects that the implementation of this project will not only solve the lack of public transportation in the Gijang Osiria area, where city buses are insufficient, but also greatly help alleviate chronic problems such as traffic congestion and parking shortages in nearby tourist areas.

Jeong Im-su, Director of the Transportation Bureau, said, “We plan to continuously monitor the pilot-operated Tabara, and if the number of Tabara bus users increases, we will expand the project and consider expanding the operation area. We hope citizens visiting Gijang-gun will definitely use this bus and experience Busan’s new concept of transportation service.”

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