A village bus drives on a street in Seoul. (image: Seodaemun District Office)
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Passengers using “maeul buses,” which are ubiquitous in neighborhoods across Seoul neighborhoods, said shameless cutting in line is what they hate the most about taking the bus.
Maeul buses – “maeul” means “town” in English – are small green buses that run on routes connecting neighborhoods to nearby major bus stops and subway stations.
According to a survey of 500 citizens conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Council, 14 percent of the respondents cited ‘cutting in line’ as the response when asked which situation is “difficult to understand when taking the bus.”
Following next was ‘those who take the wide seat alone’, accounting for 12.2 percent and ‘those who stink with alcohol,’ accounting for 11.4 percent.
Among the respondents, male respondents hated ‘line cutting’ the most, accounting for 17.2 percent, while female respondents disliked ‘taking up large seat’ the most, accounting for 13.2 percent.
Overall, satisfaction with the town buses, which respondents ranked on a scale of 1 to 9 points, exceeded the median level.
The satisfaction level with waiting time was 5.5 points. Currently, the average wait time in the city is 13.8 minutes.
Of the respondents who were dissatisfied with the waiting time, 48.5 percent said that about four to five minutes was appropriate.
Respondents gave a score of 5.76 points for the properness of boarding and departing points, 5.74 points for moving speed, and 5.78 points for moving distance.
The need to introduce low floor buses averaged 6.09 points, compared to 6.32 points for those in their 60s and older.
Meanwhile, there are currently 138 village bus companies, 251 routes and 1,584 vehicles operating in Seoul.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
