Seoul to raise Han River bus fares on weekends, holidays next year

Seoul Metropolitan Government unveils tiered fare plan at public hearing

Weekend and holiday fares would double under the proposal

Children's fares also set to rise; advance reservations to carry surcharge

City aims for April rollout pending Seoul Metropolitan Council approval

A Han River bus in service. [Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing to raise Han River bus fares on weekends and public holidays next year. The likely new rates — double the current fares — would be 6,000 won for adults, 3,600 won for teenagers (ages 13 to 18) and 2,200 won for children (ages 6 to 12). An additional 2,000-won reservation fee would also apply for advance bookings. The city plans to pilot a reservation system starting next month.

Seoul unveiled the plan Tuesday at a public hearing on Han River bus fare restructuring held at the Seosomun Annex of Seoul City Hall. The city is strongly considering doubling fares on weekends and public holidays. Under the proposal, the base adult fare would rise from 3,000 won to 6,000 won, the teenage fare from 1,800 won to 3,600 won, and the children's fare from 1,100 won to 2,200 won.

The city also plans to introduce a reservation surcharge. To allow passengers to board on busy weekends and holidays without waiting, Seoul would charge an additional 2,000 won for advance reservations. That would bring the total weekend and holiday fares for pre-booked rides to 8,000 won for adults, 5,600 won for teenagers and 4,200 won for children.

"The 2,000-won reservation fee would not be charged immediately," a Seoul city official said. "Starting in October, we plan to run the reservation system on a trial basis free of charge, gauge passenger response, and then apply the fee when the system is formally introduced next year after a technical overhaul."

The weekend pricing is based on research commissioned from the Seoul Institute. A survey of 2,107 Han River bus riders over two weeks in August found that passengers were willing to pay a representative amount of 8,248 won. The city said it set the fare at 6,000 won — a level it estimated about 70 percent of residents would find acceptable — after factoring in public tolerance. The figure also takes into account the 5,350-won fare on the Airport Railroad, currently the most expensive regular public transit service in the greater Seoul area.

Under the current flat-fare structure, weekend and holiday ridership is heavily skewed toward leisure and sightseeing passengers. City data on average daily ridership from April through June this year showed that weekend daily usage ran about 2.2 times higher than on weekdays, raising concerns about crowd management. Questions were also raised about whether it was appropriate to charge the same fare to riders with different purposes and levels of demand.

Several cities abroad already operate similar tiered fare systems. Hong Kong's Star Ferry runs a weekday differential fare, while Washington state ferries in the United States apply a peak-season surcharge from May through September. London's Uber Boat service uses a peak and off-peak pricing system alongside a weekday commuter discount.

Crowding on weekends has also fueled demand for a reservation system, as passengers have complained about first-come, first-served boarding and long wait times. Complaints have included riders saying they arrived at the pier only to leave without boarding and calling for an individual booking option, as well as staff noting that the service's structure forces passengers to wait for extended periods and urging the introduction of an online advance-booking system.

Passengers line up to board a Han River bus at the Jamsil pier. [Herald photo by Son In-gyu]

Following Tuesday's public hearing, the city plans to seek input from the transportation committee in November before putting the measure to a vote in the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Once Tmoney completes the necessary system upgrades, the tiered fare structure is set to take effect in April next year.

"There is room for some adjustments during the public comment, committee review and council approval process," a city official said. "However, the city will do its utmost to have the proposal presented Tuesday adopted as submitted."

The Han River bus, which launched Sept. 18 last year, averaged 1,815 passengers a day over its first year of operation and surpassed 500,000 cumulative riders as of Aug. 13. Nearly half of those riders — about 240,000 — traveled on weekends. Passenger satisfaction stood at 97 percent.

ikson@heraldcorp.com