A low-floor bus is seen in this photo provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has mandated that low-floor buses be introduced when replacing old intra-city and maeul buses, and rural buses with new ones.
Maeul buses — “maeul” means “village” in English — are small green buses that run on routes connecting neighborhoods to nearby major bus stops and subway stations.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Tuesday that the revised enforcement ordinance and regulation of the law concerning the replacement of fixed-route bus vehicles with low-floor buses and the exemption approval procedure will be put in place.
Under the commercial passenger vehicle law, all fixed-route buses with the exception of inter-city buses must be replaced by low-floor buses when they are retired from service.
When it comes to inter-city buses, the government plans to expand the number of buses with wheelchair accommodation facilities rather than introduce more low-floor buses.
Among inter-city and rural buses, existing buses will have to be replaced by low-floor buses starting from Jan. 2027, based on the consideration that appropriate models are under development through national research and development programs.
In cases where low-floor buses cannot be operated due to limits in road and facility structures, bus operators can apply for an exemption from their municipal government for each route.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
