Sejong-si, Increase in Public Transportation Users Last Year... "Recovery to Pre-COVID-19 Levels"

19.57 Million Bus Riders in Sejong Last Year
Recovered to Pre-COVID-19 Levels After Sharp Decline
Steady Increase in Shuckle and Eoulling Users

The number of public transportation users in Sejong City has significantly increased. It is analyzed that the policy to expand public transportation usage has been effective on the ground, recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Sejong City announced on the 24th that the number of bus passengers increased to 19.57 million last year, recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels. Bus passengers sharply dropped from 17.14 million in 2019 to 13.45 million in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, but showed an increasing trend with 14.88 million in 2021 and 17.52 million in 2022.

In particular, Sejong City analyzed that the significant increase in passengers last year was due to the effects of increasing BRT vehicles and operation frequency, the establishment of the new metropolitan route bus No. 1001, and shortening the intervals of existing routes.

In the region, most public transportation users increased besides buses. First, the number of users of the ‘Shuckle’ service, demonstrated by Hyundai Motor Company, increased from 340,000 in 2021 (the first year) to 660,000 last year. This is believed to be influenced by the expansion of the Shuckle service, which was previously only available in the 1st residential zone, to the entire 2nd residential zone last year.

The public rental bicycle service Eoulling recorded a cumulative membership of 248,120 and an annual usage count of 2,453,124 last year, showing that usage rates have surged more than fourfold over five years since 2019.

Sejong City plans to continue expanding convenience for public transportation usage this year as well. The plan is to steadily increase infrastructure to prevent the emergence of public transportation underserved areas and to establish a transportation system centered on public transportation.

Lee Doo-hee, Director of the Construction and Transportation Bureau of Sejong City, said, “This year, we plan to significantly expand bus routes including metropolitan routes, increase demand-responsive buses, and build an integrated transfer fare system for the Chungcheong region to further enhance convenience for public transportation users. Above all, we expect that the introduction of the ‘Ieung Pass’ scheduled for implementation in September this year will once again greatly increase the number of local public transportation users.”

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