"Full Again": The Daily Commuter War for Metropolitan Buses

[Anchor]

Office workers commuting between Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, and Seoul are facing a daily "war" to board metropolitan buses every morning and evening. The demand far exceeds the number of available seats, and there is no clear solution in sight.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon reports from the scene.

[Reporter]

At 6:00 PM, a long line forms at a metropolitan bus stop in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

As the number indicating remaining seats drops one by one, the commuters' hearts sink.

[Commuter: This one is gone, it shows zero seats, so I can't board. I have to wait for the next one.]

Since standing is prohibited on metropolitan buses that cross city and provincial borders, passengers often have to wait for the next bus, or even the one after that.

[Commuter/Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province: If I take the bus during rush hour, I almost always have to let two buses pass... It’s like that almost every day between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.]

Fearing they might be late, commuters start lining up as early as 6:30 AM on weekdays, feeling anxious throughout their morning commute.

Some even travel to an earlier stop just to secure a seat.

[Lee Yu-min/Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province: (What time is your work start time?) It's 9:00 AM, but I think I'll be a little late today. I think they really need to increase the number of (metropolitan) buses. I don't know if they expect us to just wait, and I have no idea when the GTX will open.]

This is a metropolitan bus stop heading to Seoul from Dongtan New Town in Gyeonggi Province.

It is currently just past 8:00 AM.

People are still standing in long lines to commute to Seoul.

This commuting war occurs because there are many people working in Seoul, but a shortage of metropolitan buses and alternative transportation options.

The Great Train Express (GTX), which is intended to solve this problem, is seeing continued delays in construction across significant sections.

In fact, seven out of ten metropolitan buses traveling between Yongin or Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and downtown Seoul are full during weekday morning rush hours.

[Lee Chul-ki/Professor of Transportation Systems Engineering at Ajou University: Cities with a high dependency on metropolitan buses, such as Yongin, Suwon, and Hwaseong, are areas where the commuting population is concentrated in regions not yet reached by the GTX. Since there are no other alternatives...]

While there is a flood of complaints demanding a significant increase in metropolitan buses during rush hours, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is reluctant, citing the saturation of downtown bus-only lanes.

With no clear solution other than the opening of the GTX, the exhausting commute for office workers living in the Seoul metropolitan area is bound to continue for some time.

Reported by Jeong Jiyeon | Video by Lee Sang-hak | Video Editing by Kim Jong-tae | Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.