Yongin Special City said on the 15th that it plans to propose to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport the creation of a new metropolitan bus route for the Dongcheon-dong area in Suji District.
The proposal follows complaints from Dongcheon-dong residents, including a collective petition, pointing out inconveniences in using public transportation. Although a large residential complex of more than 5,000 households has been built in the Dongcheon-dong area, complaints have continued that commuting is inconvenient due to an inadequate public transit system.
In response, Yongin is rolling out various public transit measures. To meet high demand during morning rush hours, the existing M4101 metropolitan express bus serving Suji District has been operating with additional chartered buses since Mar. 30.
The city is also pushing to introduce a Gyeonggi premium bus that connects with Route 6900 to respond to rising demand toward Pangyo. To improve village bus service, the city increased the number of buses on Routes 14-1 and 14-4 to shorten intervals, and replaced vehicles on Route 17-1 with larger buses to expand capacity.
However, voices said there are limits to what Yongin's measures alone can achieve. The resident representative councils of seven apartment complexes in Dongcheon-dong conducted a nine-day signature drive from Mar. 23 to 31, collecting signatures from about 7,500 residents, and, based on that, officially filed public transit improvement petitions with bodies including the Metropolitan Transport Commission under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The resident representative councils proposed: ▲ establishing a new metropolitan bus route that passes through the Dongcheon-dong living area ▲ improving village bus headways and, if necessary, creating new routes.
Lee Sang-il, mayor of Yongin, said, "The city will submit a proposal within the first half of this year to the Metropolitan Transport Commission of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), which has the authority to create metropolitan bus routes, so that a metropolitan bus serving the Dongcheon-dong area can be established, and we will actively stress the need for it."
He added, "Because expanding service on existing metropolitan buses serving Suji District in Yongin is also necessary, we will continue to consult with the Metropolitan Transport Commission, and we will work to improve convenience for citizens regarding Suji District village bus operations as well."