- City adding 29 buses across ten routes in newer neighborhoods, and securing 15,000 additional parking spaces in the old city center by 2026 -

- City also considering a “median bus lane” and road/rail networks connected to all corners of the country -

Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor: Yoo Jeong-bok) has brought out a new “Citizen's Transportation Plan” aimed at relieving congestion across its public transportation system where newly built apartments are ready to welcome owners, and also to secure additional parking spaces in the old city center.

Intra-city buses bound for Gyeyang Station in Seo-gu, particularly Geomdan New Town, often have no choice but to pass stations without stopping once all of their seats are taken (during rush hour). This has led to a rising number of complaints. As for inter-city buses, passengers need to wait 20~30 minutes, and 20 or so passengers for every bus need to stand all the way to their destination.

For the Airport Railroad, the congestion rate between Gyeyang and Gimpo Airport is close to 218%, and the congestion rate for Incheon Subway Line No. 2 is at 132%. The City is expecting new swathes of residents to move in when some of its apartments start welcoming people in, and this will inevitably worsen the congestion.

In the old city center, people have been constantly complaining about the lack of parking spaces. This is because the old downtown area only has 74.7% of the parking spaces it actually needs in residential areas.

In order to solve this problem, the City is upgrading and expanding its public transportation infrastructure, which had been lagging behind despite the increased demand for public transportation following major development projects in Geomdan and Songdo (sites 6 and 8). Incheon’s new “Citizen’s Transportation Plan” could offer the solution.

The Plan involves fourteen detailed action plans across three objectives: ▲improving the congestion affecting the City’s public transportation system; ▲adding parking spaces in the old city center; and ▲executing the “All Ways Incheon” initiative successfully.

□ City creating new intra- and inter-city buses and adding new buses to new neighborhoods, including Geomdan

To alleviate congestion during rush hours, the City is looking to add ten chartered buses to six routes in Namdong-gu, Songdo, and Geomdan. Then, in the second half of the year, Incheon has plans to significantly upgrade its bus infrastructure by adding ten more chartered buses to five routes and establishing two new regional bus routes (Geomdan-Gangnam, Cheongna-Yangjae Flower Market).

Moreover, the City will monitor new residents moving into Geomdan and other New Town neighborhoods to either add new intra-city buses or modify existing bus routes. In Geomdan alone, Incheon will add fifteen buses across seven routes. Other neighborhoods are getting fourteen buses across three routes.

The Airport Railroad is also expected to get an upgrade with nine new trains by 2025. This could bring the congestion rate from 218% to 139% (△79%). With an improved infrastructure, which could include new trains to replace old trains (28 trains), the service interval will go from 6.7 minutes to 3.6 minutes.

□ City expanding its inter-city bus transportation network following the opening of the Overseas Korean Service

For passengers traveling to and from the new Overseas Korean Service, bus no. 6777, which runs between Songdo International City and Incheon Airport, will resume its service in July. This route was suspended for the past two and a half years due to a decline in bus users during the pandemic. Once the route resumes its service, passengers traveling between the Overseas Korean Service and Incheon International Airport are expected to have a much easier time reaching their destination. Meanwhile, the City plans to analyze the traffic demand for the Overseas Korean Service to adjust and establish new inter-city bus routes in the Songdo area if it helps the Agency’s staff and visitors going forward.

□ City securing additional 15,000 parking spaces in the old city center by 2026

Incheon is looking to secure an additional 15,000 parking spaces by 2026. The plan is to build underground public parking lots in schools and parks and also promote the use of “shared” parking lots in order to solve the parking problem in the old city center.

By 2028, three schools will be selected for 300 parking spaces as part of a pilot project (budget: KRW 36 billion). Also, seven city parks (total area: 3,000㎡+), including the Namdong Neighborhood Park, will get 2,886 new underground parking spaces at a cost of KRW 177.2 billion as part of the City’s urban planning strategy of building multi-purpose public facilities.

To use large supermarkets and school parking lots, Incheon will offer between KRW 20 million and 30 million in incentives if they open their parking spaces up for public access.

□ City considering a “median bus lane” system

To alleviate traffic congestion in the city center, Incheon is looking into the possibility of segregating buses and other vehicles. This could come in the form of a “median bus lane,” which offers the advantage of building a faster and safer bus system with more buses arriving on time.

From May 2023, will commission a task force (TF) featuring experts from the Incheon Institute and other transportation experts, and in the second half of 2023, the Incheon Institute will carry out pending tasks to review the introduction of a median bus lane system and possible candidates (bus routes) for the new system if it indeed gets the green light.

□ City establishing road and railway network connected to all corners of the country with its All Ways Incheon initiative

KTX from Incheon connected major hubs across the country (opening in 2025), the GTX-B, and other high-speed and inter-city railway networks are on their way to make sure passengers can travel to anywhere in the country in just half a day, and to bring down travel time to and from major hubs in the metropolitan area to just half an hour. As for roads, by 2030, Incheon will establish an inter-city and arterial road network from the heart of the City connected to other major cities and regions. The plan is to connect seven new roads and upgrade five arterial networks (Geumgok-Daegok, Dogye-Majeon, etc.) to upgrade Incheon’s road systems.

Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, “The new “Citizen’s Transportation Plan” will help relieve the congestion across our public transportation system to make Incheon a world-class city where its citizens are happy and healthy thanks to faster and easier public transportation. We also plan on adding a huge number of parking spaces in the old city center to make sure everyone has a place to park their cars safely.”