Free buses in Sejong City

A plan to make Sejong City’s buses free from 2025, proposed by the city’s Mayor Choi Min-ho, recently made headlines.

Whereas many local governments only offer free public transportation to certain groups such as senior citizens, Sejong City will be the first among sizable cities in the country to offer free bus services to all residents, regardless of their age or income. The mayor said that once passengers pay for the fare with their transportation card, the same amount will be returned to them in the form of city-brokered payment system credits or as mileage to use for public bicycle sharing.

Free bus travel was actually an election pledge by Mayor Choi when he was running for the post last year, and the city has some good reasons to consider it. First of all, roads in Sejong City are narrow and residents rely much more heavily on personal vehicles than public buses.

Buses operating in Sejong City, totaling 310, contribute to only 7 percent of the city’s total transportation, which falls far short of the average 16.2 percent contribution by buses in metropolitan cities of the country. Cars, meanwhile, are shouldering 41 percent of the transportation load in Sejong, which is almost twice as much as Seoul with its intricate web of subways and buses. As people choose to drive their own cars despite narrow roads, the city is suffering heavy traffic during commuting hours.

The irony is that Sejong City was designed to be public transportation and bicycle focused. The city’s main street has only four lanes, except for the two in the center reserved for buses. It is unlike other newly developed cities with wide eight-lane roads. Yet, the road for bicycles and pedestrians in Sejong is more spacious than in any other city in the country.

As Mayor Choi pointed out, the number of cars continues to increase with the population

inflow and it is almost impossible to extend the narrow streets. It is thus feared that the traffic conditions will only worsen when apartments are constructed in the city’s yet-to-be-developed zones 5 and 6.

Sejong City thus plans to encourage residents to use public transportation by offering bus services for free — currently, the bus fare is 1,400 won when paid with a card and 1,500 won when paid in cash.

Then there comes the problem of budget. It costs an average of 48.9 billion won a year to operate the 310 buses in Sejong. Operators of these buses, meanwhile, took only 16.1 billion won in revenue with those buses. The city had to inject taxpayers’ money to cover the deficit. The city government estimates it will take around 58 billion won of the annual budget to run the free bus service.

The city also has to upgrade its notoriously inefficient routes. The routes are indirect and bus intervals are long. A destination only 10 minutes away by car often takes 40 minutes to reach by bus.

Free bus travel may sound like a peculiar idea, but it is already working in some other countries. It will reduce ultrafine dust, thereby benefiting even those who do not use the free bus services. Though the city government will have to spend tens of billions of won to operate free buses, it could also save money by not having to build parking lots and new roads as well as repairing and maintaining them. Residents could also save time when traffic jams are relieved and there could also be a positive impact on their health as they walk more.