The Seoul city government said on the 14th that as the city bus strike entered its second day, it would strengthen and implement emergency transport measures.
First, the city will increase concentrated subway service during commuting hours and extend last train times, anticipating higher subway ridership by residents. Starting on the evening commute on the 13th and continuing until the strike ends, it will add extra runs.
It plans to extend the concentrated dispatch period for rush hour by two hours compared with normal days. The congested periods that had run from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. will be extended to 11 a.m. in the morning and 10 p.m. in the evening. With this, the number of additional subway runs will increase from 172 to 203.
It will also operate the subway flexibly, including dispatching empty trains to stations with high congestion. The city said that on the first day of the strike, the 13th, it dispatched and operated empty trains to the most congested stations on the inner loop of Line 2 during the evening commute, and this was found to ease platform congestion in those stations.
It will also increase station safety personnel. For 86 major congested stations, including Sindorim Station on Line 2, the city will deploy additional station safety staff during commuting hours, bringing the total to 655. That is 346 more than the existing 308.
It is also pushing substitute bus operations. On the first day of the strike, the 13th, the city operated 677 chartered buses on 134 routes across Seoul to connect with subway stations. Starting today, it will add 86 more, for a total of 763. On the first day, 80,000 passengers used the chartered buses, according to the tally. Village buses are operating normally across Seoul.
The city will also allow city buses not participating in the strike to join in connecting transport to subway stations by shortening routes and will deploy available government-use buses to the field.
In addition, it will allow general vehicles to use bus-only lanes. All 69.8 kilometers of the curbside bus-only lanes operated by the city are covered. This is to prepare for an increase in residents using passenger cars. However, center bus-only lanes will remain limited to buses only.
Transportation Director Yeo Jang-gwon of the Seoul city government said, "We will do our utmost for a smooth labor-management agreement and the swift normalization of public transit operations," adding, "We will continue measures for normalizing operations, such as on-site transport support and monitoring traffic operations."