Building a 'Citizen-Centered' City Bus System... Gwangju Launches First Innovation Conference

Launch of 'Labor-Management-Government-Civil Society Council' for Sustainable Transportation System
"Discussion on Public Transportation Policies Including Semi-Public System and Fare Rationalization"

On the morning of the 21st, Gwangju Mayor Kang Kijeong attended the kickoff meeting of the Public Transportation Innovation Conference for the Improvement of the Semi-Public Bus System held in the city hall's medium conference room. After taking a commemorative photo with the attendees, they discussed the direction of the project. Provided by Gwangju City

On the morning of the 21st at 10:00 a.m., the city of Gwangju held the first meeting of the "Public Transportation Innovation Conference" in the medium conference room at city hall, launching discussions on the overall semi-public bus system.

This meeting was organized ahead of the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the semi-public system, with the aim of strengthening citizens' mobility rights, securing public interest, and promoting a reform of the service system. Eighteen people attended, including Mayor Kang Kijeong, members of the Gwangju City Council, representatives from the Bus Transport Association and labor unions, as well as experts in transportation, finance, and labor.

The "Public Transportation Innovation Conference" (hereinafter referred to as the Innovation Conference) is a consultative body in the transportation sector comprised of around 20 members from Gwangju City, the city council, labor unions, transport associations, and experts. It is divided into four specialized subcommittees: labor-management cooperation, financial innovation, route innovation, and bus administration, each expected to conduct professional and in-depth discussions.

The labor-management cooperation subcommittee will focus on improving working conditions, including wage and collective bargaining matters between city bus labor and management, as well as the treatment of transport workers. The financial innovation subcommittee will address ways to secure financial soundness, such as directions for improving the semi-public system, reducing transportation costs, and adjusting public transportation fares.

Additionally, the route innovation subcommittee will seek ways to maximize citizen convenience through phased route adjustments, while the bus administration subcommittee will focus on policies to enhance the quality and safety of city bus services. As the kickoff meeting, discussions were held on the operational methods for future meetings, the roles of each subcommittee, and agenda items.

Park Pilsun, chair of the Industrial and Construction Committee of the city council, who attended the meeting, suggested, "Other cities and provinces are institutionally adopting measures such as the pre-settlement system and target management system to improve the semi-public bus system. I hope Gwangju City will actively consider these options as well."

Park Sangbok, head of the Gwangju Regional Bus Labor Union, stated, "Public transportation should be approached from a welfare perspective. To resolve the deficit structure, we need to devise ways to increase the share of public transportation."

Lim Dongchun, director of the Gwangju Bus Transport Association, said, "Let us boldly introduce a dedicated bus lane system in line with the road restoration following the construction of Urban Railway Line 2. By ensuring punctuality in public transportation, we can expect an increase in the share of public transportation."

Starting this month with the labor-management cooperation subcommittee, the city plans to swiftly proceed with subcommittee meetings. The results discussed in each subcommittee will be reviewed again in the full conference and then finalized in policy after deliberation by the City Bus Policy Deliberation Committee.

Mayor Kang Kijeong said, "To end the recent bus strike, I proposed three measures: an increase in base pay, an extension of the retirement age, and the establishment of the Public Transportation Innovation Conference. Including these items, the first meeting of the Innovation Conference, which serves as a discussion table for all aspects of Gwangju's public transportation, has now been held. I ask everyone to pool their wisdom so that reasonable improvements can be made to the semi-public system that has been in place for 20 years, the rationalization of bus fares, bus workers' wages, and the quality of service for citizens."

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