Seoul City has wrapped up the dispute over withdrawing from the transfer system with village bus operators. Earlier, the village bus operators had said they would withdraw from the transfer system starting next year while calling for expanded financial support.
Seoul City said on the 21st that it signed an additional agreement with the Seoul Village Bus Transportation Business Association (Village Bus Association) on the 18th of this month to improve service. This adds to and supplements the two sides' agreement in October on "village bus service improvement."
Seoul City said, "With this additional agreement, we ended the controversy over withdrawing from village bus transfers, which could have caused inconvenience to citizens," and added, "It is meaningful that the city and the association are jointly moving to improve service with citizens' transportation convenience as the top priority."
The Village Bus Association has been at odds with Seoul City over the size of compensation for public transit transfer discounts. The gist was that if financial support was not expanded, it would withdraw from the transfer system starting next year.
In response, Seoul City decided to raise next year's baseline amount for village bus financial support compared with the current level. In return, it signed an agreement on Oct. 2 with the Village Bus Association to improve service quality, including the number of runs and headways.
However, the Village Bus Association later signaled the possibility of withdrawal, saying the agreement did not include "rescinding withdrawal from the transfer system," sparking controversy.
In this additional agreement, the two sides agreed to increase next year's village bus runs by about 5% from this year. They also agreed to boost service by 12% on 154 routes run by deficit operators where service had been lacking.
Seoul City budgeted 50 billion won in village bus financial support for next year. That is up from 41.2 billion won last year. The city also said it would pursue incentive budget support based on service evaluation results and special support linked to driver hiring.
Village Bus Association Chair Kim Yong-seung said, "This agreement is the first step to simultaneously resolve the difficulties of member companies and the inconvenience of citizens," adding, "We will do our best to operate village buses safely and with public trust."
Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, said, "We will push service improvements without a hitch so that citizens can say village buses have changed."