No Service Interruptions Despite Bus Strike... Seoul City Promotes 'Mandatory Minimum Operation Rate'

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is planning to mandate a minimum operation rate to ensure that city buses continue to run without interruption even during strikes.

On the 11th, the city announced that it will implement a "City Bus Operation Improvement Plan" as a follow-up measure after last month's city bus strike. The plan will comprehensively address issues ranging from designating city buses as essential public services and mandating minimum operation rates to fundamental management strategies for stable bus services.

First, the city will improve the system so that city buses can operate even during strikes, similar to the subway. On the 28th of last month, the Seoul city bus strike caused bus operations to stop from the first bus until 3 p.m. On the day of the strike, the bus operation rate was about 4.4%. According to the Labor Union Act, unlike railroads and urban railways, city buses are not designated as "essential public services," so unions are not obligated to comply with minimum operation rates when striking.

On the 28th, when the Seoul city bus union went on a general strike for the first time in 12 years, buses were parked at a bus depot in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

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The city plans to propose an amendment to the Labor Union Act to designate city buses as essential public services as soon as the 22nd National Assembly convenes, in cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Once city buses are designated as essential public services, they will be required to comply with minimum operation rates even if a strike is decided.

Additionally, to create a sustainable environment for city buses, the city will prepare comprehensive measures such as diversifying revenue sources and establishing route adjustment standards. To compensate for the increased transportation deficit caused by decreased passenger numbers during the COVID-19 period, rising natural gas prices, and increased labor costs, the city will work on reducing fuel costs. It plans to introduce 2,498 eco-friendly buses by 2026 and encourage management innovation in bus companies to boost revenue, as well as explore diversification strategies to expand advertising income.

The city will also address the issue of "overlapping routes" with GTX and light rail transit, which have been identified as another cause of financial deficits. Through commissioned research, the city will reorganize overlapping routes and establish route adjustment standards to build a healthy transportation share system. Inefficient or overlapping routes will be streamlined, and proactive standards for establishing new routes are expected to be set.

Furthermore, considering that financially weak bus companies are operating due to the financial support system under the quasi-public operation system, the city plans to take firm measures such as court receivership and mergers and acquisitions against insolvent companies. As of 2022, among the 65 city bus companies in Seoul, 11 had a debt ratio exceeding 200%, and among them, 8 had a debt ratio exceeding 400%.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Transportation Office, stated, "Seoul city buses have pursued stable operation based on the quasi-public operation system for the past 20 years, but there have been limitations in actively reflecting various changes in the transportation environment during that time. Moving forward, we will prepare a more advanced quasi-public operation system that addresses these issues."

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