It Takes 1 Hour to Travel Two Stops... "There's No Hell Like the Myeongdong Rush Hour Chaos"

Traffic Congestion Worsens After Bus Stop Location Sign Installation
Seoul City Plans to Change Some Stop Locations

Seoul City installed route indication facilities at the Myeongdong Entrance bus stop to alleviate congestion and ensure safety, but these facilities have instead caused more traffic congestion, sparking complaints among citizens. On the 2nd, an online community post titled "The congestion process starting from Myeongdong Entrance that will continue to happen" was uploaded. The author, Mr. A, stated, "During rush hour, the boarding and alighting times at Myeongdong Entrance lengthen, causing metropolitan buses to start piling up," and added, "Suddenly, congestion occurs near the Bank of Korea intersection, and the tailback extends all the way to Seoul Station."

Seoul City proactively installed route display facilities at the Myeongdong Entrance bus stop to alleviate congestion, but these have instead caused more traffic jams, sparking complaints among citizens. On the 2nd, a post titled "The Ongoing Congestion Process Starting from Myeongdong Entrance" was uploaded to an online community.
[Photo by Online Community]

Mr. A continued, "As Seoul Station becomes congested, buses turning around cannot exit, causing traffic jams even on the side entering Seoul Station," and explained, "This congestion extends to Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station, paralyzing areas up to Euljiro 2(i)-ga and Jongno." He further said, "Because of just one Myeongdong bus stop, the entire Seoul city center becomes a mess, and this will continue for the next few months," adding, "There will be no solution in downtown Seoul from rush hour until around 11 p.m."

The bus stop pointed out by Mr. A is Myeongdong Entrance (towards Namdaemun Tax Office and Seoul Baek Hospital), where an abnormally large number of metropolitan buses stop, causing habitual congestion. Especially during rush hour, the area around the stop is filled with bus passengers.

Facility Built to Alleviate Congestion Becomes the Cause of Congestion

On December 28 last year, Seoul City installed route indication facilities at the bus stop to alleviate congestion, ensure citizen safety, and organize the previously indiscriminately marked bus stop positions by metropolitan bus operators. While these facilities effectively reduced passenger confusion, they also caused the unintended effect of buses lining up. About 30 metropolitan buses lined up at designated spots to pick up passengers, which worsened traffic congestion.

Citizens waiting endlessly for buses expressed complaints such as, "Only some buses lined up before, but now most buses line up, so congestion is inevitable," "So this is why all the buses were stuck at Myeongdong," "My 1-hour commute home has stretched to 2 to 3 hours," and "It's pure hell." One office worker lamented, "It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to travel two stops from Seoul Station to Myeongdong Entrance. I thought something had happened."

Bus congestion status between Seoul Station and Myeongdong Entrance around 11 PM on the 3rd [Photo source=Online Community]

As citizen inconvenience and complaints grew, Seoul City stated, "We have requested the Metropolitan Transportation Committee, which oversees metropolitan buses, and Gyeonggi Province to prepare congestion relief measures such as route adjustments and changes to bus stops, and we are currently discussing detailed plans," adding, "If all goes well, the adjustment plan will be implemented within this month." They also added, "We expect the adjustment plan, combined with the installed facilities, to help alleviate traffic congestion."

The city added, "To improve the problem of metropolitan buses waiting until full capacity before departing at Myeongdong Entrance stop, which causes congestion, we plan to deploy on-site guidance personnel." Additionally, the city plans to further consider measures to reduce metropolitan buses entering downtown Seoul by turning them around before entering the city center and connecting them with urban public transportation.

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