At 6 p.m. on the 25th in front of exit 3 of Seongsu Station in Seongdong District, Seoul. Shouts of "Excuse me, please move," "You're standing on the road," and "I'm going in" did not stop around the exit.
As crowds trying to enter the station poured in, a line nearly 50 meters long formed. When the crosswalk signal changed, people trying to join the line and citizens simply trying to pass through became mixed together. Pushed by the crowd, some ended up stopped in the middle of the roadway.
An office worker, a person surnamed Kim, 34, said, "Every day after work feels like hell," and noted, "They say they've improved the pedestrian environment, but it's still crowded and there is no tangible change at all."
Exits 2 and 3 of Seongsu Station have for years been flagged for congestion and safety issues. Seongdong District recently finished pedestrian environment improvements, but the rush-hour crowding remained. Among citizens, there were strong calls to deploy safety personnel or add more entrances and exits to prevent accidents.
◇ Only four entrances for 100,000 people a day
Seongsu-dong has emerged as a tourist hotspot as pop-up stores and others have opened. With corporations such as Musinsa and SOCAR moving in, foot traffic has surged. According to Seoul Metro, Seongsu Station's average daily users rose about 70%, from 58,499 in 2021 to 99,210 in January–October this year. It has the 13th-highest ridership among Seoul's 276 stations.
But Seongsu Station still has only the four entrances built when it opened in 1980. That contrasts sharply with stations of similar scale, such as Seoul Nat'l Univ. Station (eight) and Sadang Station (14).
Of Seongsu Station's four entrances, crowds funnel to exits 2 and 3. Exit 3 accounts for 31.1% of usage and exit 2 for 27.2%, meaning 58.3% of all users are concentrated at the two. In the "level of service for pedestrian traffic," which evaluates space available per pedestrian, exit 3 was rated E at 0.66㎡ per person, meaning it is so dense that it is difficult to walk without bumping into the person next to you.
As discomfort grew, Seongdong District rolled out measures. In September last year, it cleared street vendors around exit 3 and widened the sidewalk from 3 meters to 4 to 5 meters. It also moved the crosswalk that had been right in front of the exit 10 meters south. On the 10th of this month, it also fixed up the area in front of exit 2 and shifted the crosswalk 10 meters north.
◇ Exit areas were fixed, but "it doesn't feel different"
But citizens said it was hard to feel any change. Around 6:10 p.m. on the 25th, a line more than 50 meters long formed in front of exit 3 as before. The queue again spread out into four to five lines instead of two. Even though the crosswalk location was adjusted, people tried to join straight near the exit rather than move to the back of the line, and the crowd tangled in an instant.
With a new signal installed, the scene of 20 to 30 people pouring in at once each time the green light came on repeated, and some crossed the crosswalk ignoring the signal. A citizen pushing a bicycle was trapped in the crowd, and about a dozen people who could not join the line stood on the roadway.
It was no different at exit 2. When the crosswalk signal changed, about 20 people rushed toward the exit all at once beside an already roughly 30-meter line. Citizens who could not join the line stayed on the roadway, and a motorcycle squeezed past them. A waiting line that should have been two to three lanes quickly swelled to five to six.
At 6 p.m. on the 20th, a crowd swelled even more when an unreported rally overlapped with the narrow alley right in front of exit 3.
At both exits, risky situations were frequent as right-turning vehicle flows overlapped. In front of exit 2, at the Seongsu-ro 2-gil–Achasan-ro section, and in front of exit 3, at the Achasan-ro–Seongsu-ro 2-gil section, vehicles accelerated into the intersection the moment the pedestrian signal turned red.
An office worker, a person surnamed Kang, 32, said, "At some point, lining up from the crosswalk became the norm," and noted, "It feels like only a major accident will bring real change."
◇ New entrance delayed from October this year to December next year
Despite the crowds, no safety personnel were visible on site. You had to ride the escalator up into the station for one member of the Senior Elevator Safety Team to be standing inside.
Citizens using Seongsu Station argued that at minimum, safety personnel are needed at the crosswalks. A college student, a person surnamed Park, 23, said, "They should move the crosswalks farther away or station safety personnel to prevent disorderly merging."
A Seongdong District official said, "We plan to deploy the four safety personnel previously assigned to coincide with the 6 p.m. rush hour."
Adding entrances at Seongsu Station is the fundamental fix, but the timeline keeps slipping. Seoul Metro issued a bid on the 4th to select a contractor to build new stairs near exit 3. Under the original schedule, completion was slated for October this year, but under the new timeline, work will not finish until December 2026.
A Seoul Metro official said, "If a new entrance opens near exit 3, the available space per person will improve to a C level (passing others is difficult and there is a slight speed restriction)." However, the equally congested exit 2 still has no budget secured, so no construction schedule has been set.