Abstract
Seoul city authority implemented an innovative bus transport reform (BTR) in July 2004. This paper evaluates the performance of that reform. To this end, the paper includes a discussion of the features of the reform, an explanation of the fields and the contents of the reform, and an assessment of the performance of the reform formulated by comparing pertinent circumstances in place before and after its inception. The performance of eight fields: bus routes, bus fares, bus management, bus operation, a new smart card, a median bus lane system, vehicles and stops, and the promotion of the BTR, are measured, as are the performances of four groups influenced by the BTR. Those groups are bus passengers, bus operators, transport regulators, and members of the wider civil community. The results indicate a readily apparent decrease in traffic density in Seoul after the introduction of the reform, and it would appear that the increase in the number of public transport users bears an inverse relationship with the decrease in the transport share of private cars.
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Notes
One of the authors of the paper has been providing technical advice on policy agendas related to the bus transport reform as the Chair of the Bus System Reform Citizens Committee (BSRCC), since August 2003.
The comprehensive operation and service measuring system, which can award a maximum score of 2000, consists of various elements including service, management, operation, traffic accidents, environment, and labour conditions, etc. The lowest 30% of bus companies can find themselves in a ‘non profit’ position. Therefore, every year the lowest rated companies tend to voice complaints about the system and attempt to elicit changes in order to make the outcomes of assessment more favourable. However, their protestations are rejected by most experts and administrators.
In Curitiba, tube stations were used for free transfer and pre-ticketing. But in the case of Seoul, by utilising new information technology a smart card system was introduced, so no changes in boarding and alighting were necessitated, even in BRT lanes.
The fares on long-distance intercity bus transport between Seoul and Gyeonggi province are currently discounted since an integrated fare system came into effect in July 2008. From the first stage of the BTR in Seoul, the inhabitants of Gyeonggi province had requested the immediate introduction of an integrated fare system, but it took a period of 5 years to be put into effect.
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Kim, K.S., Cheon, Sh. & Lim, Sj. Performance assessment of bus transport reform in Seoul. Transportation 38, 719–735 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9330-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9330-4