With the institutional sector passenger car odd-even rule, public officials in non-capital regions—where public transit is relatively weak—are having trouble commuting. Some, unable to cope, are even buying used electric cars or developing carpool systems.
A, who works at a public institution in Daejeon, said on the 13th that A recently bought a used electric car for commuting. The distance between A's home and workplace is about 18 kilometers. A does not fall under the categories of a public transit desert or a long-distance commuter (30 kilometers or more), so A is not exempt from the odd-even rule. Only by using an eco-friendly car can A be exempted from the odd-even rule.
The biggest reason A spent a lump sum to buy a car is the excessively long commute time. Driving a private car takes 50 minutes round trip, but using public transit takes about 2 hours and 40 minutes, including transfer wait times.
A said, "With the Gapcheon Urban Expressway closed and construction on Daejeon Metro Line 2 overlapping, public transit is a complete madhouse," and added, "I even looked into a long-term rental of an electric car, but the expense was 1 million won a month, so I decided to buy instead."
Assistant Deputy Director Jeong Sol-hyeon (33) of Gwangyang City Hall launched the "Gwangyang Carpool" webpage. By sharing commute times, destinations and an extension number for contact, colleagues can find partners to commute together in line with the odd-even rule.
Gwangyang City Hall plans to add the webpage Jeong created to its intranet soon. Jeong, the Assistant Deputy Director, said, "Not only in Gwangyang but similar carpool webpages are already increasing at other local governments."
The main reason for stepping up responses to the odd-even rule, especially outside the capital area, is that it is hard to gauge when the Middle East crisis will end. The odd-even period could be prolonged accordingly.
There is also a large gap in public transit infrastructure between the capital region and other areas. In Seoul, during commuting hours, subways run every three minutes and city buses every 5 to 15 minutes. In contrast, outside the capital—excluding metropolitan cities—subways are far away and bus headways are often tens of minutes.
People are devising their own commuting survival tactics, but many also say the odd-even rule should be adjusted in case it drags on. A public official living in South Chungcheong Province, a person surnamed Kim (29), said, "If it's my odd-even day, I have to find a public parking lot, and if that lot is on a one-in-five rotation too, I end up scrambling for a private lot," adding, "If this goes on for over a month, it will put a burden on administrative work as well."