Busan City will hold an event marking the second anniversary of its policy of free public transit fares for children and run a "Teenieping bus."
Busan City said on the 25th that it will hold the "Busan children and family public transportation experience day" event from the 26th to the 27th at the plaza of the Student Education and Culture Center in Busan Children's Grand Park. During the event, experience programs that children and families can join will be offered, including the "Catch! Teenieping performance" and a "magic & bubble show."
Two Teenieping buses (Ppanzzakping and Bitnaping) will also be on display. After the event, the city will operate three Teenieping buses as actual city buses for the month of October.
In October 2023, the city became the first in the country to make children's fares free on all public transit modes, including urban rail, city buses, and village buses. As a result, the number of child passengers in Busan rose to more than 24 million in the 20 months after the policy took effect, from 12.8 million in the 20 months before, nearly doubling.
The policy is part of a "public transportation use promotion policy" designed to help children access public transit easily and familiarly so that, as adults, they naturally continue to use it.