Goyang City Reduces Citizen Burden and Increases Benefits in Public Transportation Policy

K-Pass and Climate Companion Card, Covering Transportation Costs for Children and Youth
GTX-A Interval Reduced from 10 Minutes to 6 Minutes
37 Bus Routes Connected to Kintex and Daegok Stations
Bus Route System Reorganization Plan to Be Established by 2026

Goyang Special City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Dong-hwan) is supporting public transportation costs such as K-Pass and Climate Companion Card in response to the increased demand for public transportation in the new semester, and operating 37 bus routes linked to GTX-A. The city also plans to establish an efficient bus route reorganization plan and continue operating demand-responsive buses for transportation-vulnerable areas to create a convenient transportation environment.

Oh Se-hoon (right), Mayor of Seoul, and Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, are posing for a commemorative photo after the Seoul-Goyang Climate Cooperation Card business agreement ceremony. Photo by Goyang City

According to Goyang Special City on the 4th, the number of K-Pass subscribers among Goyang citizens surpassed 100,000 in January this year. Among users, young people accounted for the highest proportion at 52% (52,000 people), followed by general users at 45% (45,000 people) and low-income groups at 3% (3,000 people).

K-Pass is a system that supports a certain amount of transportation expenses spent up to twice a day and up to 60 times a month when using public transportation more than 15 times a month. General users (aged 19 and over) can receive a 20% refund, youth aged 19 to 34 receive 30%, and low-income groups such as basic livelihood security recipients or near-poverty class can receive up to 53% refund.

Goyang City has been participating in K-Pass since May last year. In December last year alone, about 77,000 people received an average refund of 19,000 KRW per person. From this year, multi-child families with two or more children can receive an additional refund of 30%, and those with three children can receive up to 50%, so the number of users is expected to increase further.

In addition, transportation costs are supported for children and adolescents aged six and over. The transportation cost support for children and adolescents, which provides up to 60,000 KRW quarterly and 240,000 KRW annually, expanded the support age from 13 to 6 years old last year in line with the launch of K-Pass.

Since the end of November last year, the range of options for reducing transportation costs has further expanded by joining the Climate Companion Card implemented by Seoul City. The Climate Companion Card is a prepaid/postpaid transportation card that allows unlimited use of public transportation without additional charges in Seoul, the metropolitan area, including eight local governments in Gyeonggi Province and Bupyeong-gu, Incheon.

In Goyang City, it can be used at 27 stations on three lines: Line 3, Gyeongui-Jungang Line, and Seohae Line, as well as 31 city bus routes authorized by Seoul City passing through Goyang City. The regular pass price is 65,000 KRW per month (62,000 KRW excluding Ttareungi bike), and for youth aged 19 to 39, it is 58,000 KRW (55,000 KRW excluding Ttareungi). The city expects about 10,000 people to use the Climate Companion Card this year and has secured a budget of 1.44 billion KRW.

Metropolitan Area Express Train (GTX)-A. Provided by Goyang City

Since the 1st of this month, the operation interval of the GTX-A section from Unjeongjungang to Seoul Station has been shortened from 10 minutes to 6.25 minutes. Goyang City operates 18 bus routes at Kintex Station and 19 bus routes at Daegok Station by establishing and adjusting bus routes to facilitate convenient use of the GTX-A line.

At Kintex Station, 9 routes have been expanded mainly in areas lacking connecting buses, operating a total of 18 routes. The Daeha and Gajwa areas are served by routes 062A, 062B, N007; Tanhyeon and Deogi areas by 066B, 074, N002; and Jungsan Village by routes 55 and 091A, newly established or adjusted to operate to Kintex Station. In the future, route N003, which circulates from Janghang Public Housing District to Kintex Station, will start operation once road maintenance is completed.

Daegok Station, where many existing bus routes operated, now operates 19 routes with 4 newly established or adjusted routes. Route 072B was newly established to connect Neunggok-dong and Daegok Station directly to the lower part of Daegok Station, and route 89 was extended to operate to Neunggok and Haengsin Station. Route 84 was newly established for Pungsan-dong residents, and recently, route 1200, which runs between Tanhyeon-dong and Sungnyemun, added a stop at Daegok Station, making GTX-A use more convenient for residents of Madu-dong and Bamgasi Village. The interval between buses on each route ranges from 15 to 30 minutes and will be continuously monitored and supplemented.

Daegok Station Bus Routes. Provided by Goyang City

This year, the city will conduct a research project to reorganize the Goyang City bus route system to establish an efficient transfer and connection system between buses and subways. The reorganization plan will be completed by 2026 for Goyang City’s licensed routes and indirectly passing routes of other cities and counties, with route adjustments to be implemented by 2030.

This project aims to respond to changes due to large-scale housing and urban development projects such as Changneung District and Daegok Station area, and to prepare plans for bus connections and route curvature improvements and overlapping route adjustments due to the expansion of metropolitan railroads such as GTX-A, Seohae Line, and Gyoeui Line.

In addition, 14 Goyang Ddok Buses are operating in four areas lacking public transportation services. Goyang Ddok Bus is a demand-responsive transit (DRT) bus that can be called using the 'Ddokta' app. Siksadong and Gobong-dong started operation in 2023 with 4 and 3 buses respectively, and since the end of last year, Deogeun-dong operates 3 buses and Hyangdong-dong operates 4 buses, improving access to Seoul Gayang Station and enhancing convenience for office workers during commuting hours.

Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, said, “We will reduce the burden of public transportation costs and increase benefits so that all citizens can comfortably enjoy public transportation policies. We will establish an efficient public transportation transfer and connection system through the expansion of metropolitan transportation network-linked bus routes and the reorganization of bus route systems.”

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