"We will increase routes and shorten dispatch intervals so that residents can use city buses without inconvenience," officials said.
The South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City finalized a sweeping overhaul of the Gwangju area's urban bus network Tuesday, approving a plan to expand routes to 115 and cut the average dispatch interval by 4.5 minutes, effective Oct. 31. The decision came at a bus policy deliberation committee meeting held at Gwangju city hall.
Under the restructuring, the total number of routes will grow from 103 to 115 — an increase of 12 — while the average dispatch interval will shorten from 25.2 minutes to 20.7 minutes.
The plan expands direct routes linking major facilities such as universities and bus terminals, and introduces an express service system on heavily used long-distance routes.
Route coverage will be extended to 19 underserved residential complexes and transit-deprived areas, while outer routes will be consolidated or operationally separated to reduce dispatch intervals.
Express and wide-area services will be strengthened toward Naju Innovation City and Hwasun, and overlapping sections with rural bus routes will be reorganized.
In preparation for the opening of Urban Railway Line 2, bus stops near stations will be relocated and station names will be aligned with corresponding bus stop names.
To ensure stable operations, the city will establish or improve 11 bus turnaround points and install 99 new bus stops.
Route numbers will drop regional name prefixes to reduce confusion among passengers, though existing numbers will be retained as much as possible.
The overhaul was developed after analyzing transit card big data, a survey of 3,420 residents and more than 1,500 complaints filed since July last year.
Public hearings held in August across Gwangju's five autonomous districts, along with online and offline feedback channels, drew more than 6,000 citizen comments. Following reviews by a citizen verification panel and on-site inspections of transit-deprived areas, 60 routes in the original proposal were further adjusted.
Bae Sang-young, head of the integrated city's public transportation division, said the city would ensure passengers can use the revised routes without confusion and provide convenient and safe public transit service.
sij@heraldcorp.com
