Gyeonggi Province now offers local bus arrival information!
Createdd 2015-09-14 Hit 1463
Contents
Although autumn is right around the corner, temperatures are pretty hot during the day still so shall I tell you a story that would chill your spine? Now, imagine this.
It’s January of 2018. A cold weather warning has been issued across Gyeonggi Province. The temperature in the morning is -12℃. You’re waiting to take the bus to work in the morning but it’s nowhere to be seen. You’re standing at a bus stop that doesn’t provide any local bus information services. You just stand there and wait endlessly, not knowing when the bus will arrive.
Oh my god, just thinking about that makes you feel cold doesn’t it? It’s a small gift from yours truly to help blast away the heat.
In fact, it’s an experience we’ve all had at least once, so it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine.
But, by January 2018, I think the scenario above will be a rare thing in Gyeonggi Province.
What do I mean by that? Well, Gyeonggi Province now provides an integrated local bus information service!
There are 1,955 local buses operated by 21 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province including Goyang, Gwacheon, and Uijeongbu.
Among the 21 municipalities, only 12 had been providing local bus information.
Twelve municipalities including Gwacheon, Guri, Gunpo, Namyangju, Bucheon, Siheung, Anyang, Yangju, Yongin, Uiwang, and Paju were providing limited local bus information with individually developed systems that used message boards at bus stops and municipal government websites.
The problem was that the message boards were the only medium of dispersing information, and the information provided was simply limited to bus arrival times. Additionally, systems were incompatible between different municipalities so it was difficult for passengers from other cities to use them.
That’s why Gyeonggi Province will begin a trial-run of the integrated local bus information service across eight cities from September 1. Once this trial-run period is complete, the service will be extended to 21 municipalities in Gyeonggi Province by 2017.
The information service will cover 768 local buses and 228 routes across eight cities including Yongin, Anyang, Namyangju, Paju, Siheung, Guri, Hanam, and Gwacheon.
With the new service in place, local bus passengers can check information for local bus routes, real-time bus locations, bus stop information by region, and estimated time of arrival for buses at each station whenever and wherever using a dedicated application for their smartphones (Gyeonggi Bus Information 2), the Gyeonggi bus information website (www.gbis.go.kr), or the ARS hotline (1688-8031).
For example, local bus passengers from Namyangju to Guri used to be able to find information from Namyangju City but couldn’t do so for the same bus route in Guri City.
To eliminate similar problems, Gyeonggi Province successfully developed a communication program and an integrated information provider service system capable of linking and sharing local bus information from each municipality and the province. Development was conducted between last February and August in cooperation with the eight municipalities that had already completed synchronizing their basic information regarding bus operations. Gyeonggi Province recently completed testing the new systems and has decided to put them into action.
With regards to the new bus information system, at his weekly policy briefing session held at the Gyeonggi Province Northern Government Complex on August 26, Governor Nam Kyung-pil said that the provincial administration would “encourage other municipalities with local bus services to introduce the system so that even more Gyeonggi residents can benefit from it.”
Moving forward, Gyeonggi Province will provide the new local bus information service for municipal organizations in the order of those that complete synchronizing their bus information so as to encourage competition and faster implementation of the system. The provincial government aims to gradually extend service coverage to 21 municipalities by 2017. More specifically, the plan is to extend coverage to Seongnam and Gwangmyeong in October this year, Uiwang and Yangju by December. Next year, the service will cover Goyang, Bucheon, Hwaseong, and Gunpo, and in 2017 it will extend to Suwon, Uijeongbu, Pyeongtaek, Gimpo, and Osan.
Gyeonggi Province Traffic Information Center Director Choi Young-doo said, “This system will not only complete the routed bus information service system but also help make local buses more convenient for passengers who had difficulties using the available information.” He added, “We expect the system to increase the number of local bus passengers which will lead to improved profits for bus operators and help upgrade our bus services.”
We recommend that you to download the Gyeonggi Bus Information 2 application and experience more convenient bus service in Gyeonggi Province.
http://ggholic.tistory.com/10094