+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES

Background

Until the 1960s, bus transportation served as a central role in public transportation. However, its role had gradually declined due to the increase in private cars following the continuous economic growth since the 1970s and the development of other public transportation systems resulting from the expansion of urban areas. The rapid increase in private cars caused traffic congestion problem in large cities. Among the traffic system management techniques that appeared to solve this problem, the exclusive median bus lane system reaffirmed the importance of the bus.

The Traffic System Management Act, which has been enforced since the early 1970s, was a short-term low-investment method designed to curb traffic demand and to optimize the use of existing traffic facilities, while the existing method was a long-term high-investment method focused on increasing traffic facilities. The exclusive median bus lane system is one of these traffic system management techniques, and is a way predicted to anticipate the transition from the demand for private cars to that of buses through the improvement of bus and its services, in particular, as a method of simultaneously reducing the demand and supply of traffic.

Challenges

Transient Increase in Traffic Accidents

In the early days of the implementation of the exclusive median bus lane system, traffic accidents tended to increase temporarily due to the unauthorized crossing of pedestrians and public transportation users who were as yet adjusted to the newly changed traffic system and speed of buses. However, the number of accidents has been decreasing every year along with the continuous expansion of exclusive median buses as a result of the increase in citizen awareness and the settlement of orderly traffic culture due to the continuous promotion of the exclusive median bus lane system.

In addition, in order to reduce traffic accidents, the installation of safety fences around the exclusive median stops and crosswalks, shock absorbers at road junctions, photovoltaic rechargeable raised pavement markers for guiding the lanes and speeding prevention facilities at the stops were carried out along with regular safety education programs for bus transportation service workers.

Insufficient Capacity of Exclusive Median Bus Stops
 
For some bus stops and general traffic congestion points where build up occurs due to the concentration of passengers getting on and off after the operation of the exclusive median bus lanes, Seoul Metropolitan Government will strive to resolve the inconvenience of the citizens using buses as well as general vehicles by carrying out various projects to enhance the capacity of bus stops as well as traffic improvement projects to relieve traffic congestion. It will also continue to complement the factors of traffic safety inhibition and communication obstacles by observing traffic situations in sections within the exclusive median bus lanes.

Objectives

The policy objective of the exclusive median bus lane system is to secure lanes that can only be used by buses in the regions where the average travel speed is habitually low due to traffic congestion, thereby allowing the bus to maintain a superior travel speed when compared to cars using the remaining lanes as well as to actively encourage the people who use cars to switch to buses.

+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

The exclusive median bus lane system in Seoul was first introduced in 1986 based on the Road Traffic Act, and a total of 218.5km exclusive bus lanes have been installed in 59 sections since first appearing on Wangsan Road and Han River-daero.

As for exclusive median bus lanes, there are roadside exclusive bus lanes and exclusive median bus lanes. For the roadside exclusive bus lanes, the length of the exclusive bus lanes decreased from 224.5km in 1999 to 89.3km in 2011, while the number of exclusive median bus lanes increased from 4.5km in 1999 to 121.1km in 2011, which is more than 30 times increase. The roadside exclusive bus lanes are installed on the roadway on the roadside, divided into full time (07:00 to 21:00 on weekdays) and part time periods (07:00 to 10:00 and 17:00 to 21:00 on weekdays), and are not in operation on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

The exclusive median bus lanes provide exclusive lanes to the median lane of existing roads and may also be equipped with protective fences to prevent the entry of other vehicles. While the smooth driving on the roadside exclusive lanes is often interrupted by parked vehicles or vehicles turning right, there is no need to reduce the speed while driving on the exclusive median bus lanes because of far fewer interventions from other vehicles. Therefore, there has been a tendency to reduce the number of roadside exclusive bus lanes and to increase the number of exclusive median buses because achieving the primary purpose of maintaining a superior driving speed is more certain. The first 24-hour exclusive median bus lane on the common road was opened on Cheonho-daero, and in 2004, the exclusive median bus lanes were put into full operation in Gangnam-daero and so on along with the Seoul Metropolitan bus reorganization.

The exclusive median bus lane was introduced as part of the public transport system reorganization project in 2004 and has been continuously expanded for more than 10 years.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has already been building radial median exclusive median bus lanes with its center downtown, and will further establish an east-west connection system linking the sub-downtown areas.

Currently, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is working toward increasing the current distance of median exclusive median bus lanes in operation in 12 corridors from 115.3km to 134.5km adding 19.2km by 2016. Moreover, it will also improve the connectivity of the median lanes by examining the construction of the exclusive median bus lanes on the arterial roads that connect sub-downtowns east and west.

Seoul Metropolitan Government Exclusive Median Bus Lanes Planning Map


Source: Traffic Operation Information Service, 2013

+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS

Effects

Bus travel speeds increased by about 30% compared to pre-construction time of the exclusive median bus lanes, while the average number of passengers increased by 4 - 7%

According to the results from the analysis of the effects of installing median bus lanes in Seoul Metropolitan Government area, the speed of bus travel has been seen to be slightly different for each road. However, the installation was analyzed to be effective in enhancing the convenience of citizens using public transportation because of an approximately 30% improvement in the average speed of travel at peak times.

The average speed of buses was improved by about 30% from about 15km/h before the opening to about 20km/h.
Particularly, in the case of Dobong-Mia-ro, which used to suffer from serious traffic congestion, the average speed of buses was improved by 9.0km / h (81.8%) from 11.0km / h before the installation of exclusive median bus lanes to 20.0km / h,
Secondly, it was shown that the exclusive median bus lanes contributed greatly to securing the accuracy of the arrival time of buses. The travel time deviation of the buses passing through the exclusive median bus lanes turned out to be at the level of ± 1 ~ 2 minutes, which means that there was much less deviation when compared to vehicles traveling the same distance using regular lanes. For example, in the case of Dobong-Mia Road (15.8km), where the average travel time for buses is 44.3 minutes, the buses have a deviation in travel time of ± 2.7 minutes, while the level of private cars is at ± 15.3 minutes.

As a result, the buses of the same route did not move around in groups, they were properly arranged according to the bus stops, and the jagged arrival intervals were eliminated. It thus became possible to provide citizens with more convenient public transportation services at regular time intervals.

The number of bus passengers increased by 4-7% on average compared to the pre-construction time of exclusive median bus lanes even if there were still slight differences depending on the road.

In particular, as a result of comparing the numbers of bus passengers in Tongil-ro (Eunpyeong New Town –Seodaemun-intersection, 11.1km), which was fully opened in December, 2011, the number after the opening was analyzed to have increased by about 15% compared to that of before the opening.

+ REPLICABILITY AND SCALABILITY

Replicability

The establishment of exclusive median bus lanes in Seoul has made the most remarkable progress within the larger framework of the transition level of public transport system reform, as is widely known. Therefore, it is closely related to major policy factors that constitute the public transportation system – such as the integration of bus service routes, integration of fares, transfer center, traffic information integration and planning. In particular, the exclusive median bus lanes that were installed together with these means of 'integration' were able to have a clearer effect compared to the previous roadside exclusive median bus lanes partly because of the physical difference between the median lane and the roadside bus lane, naturally. But this policy was related to a series of policies that enhance the competitiveness of buses in general in that a single policy that strengthens the competitiveness of buses when compared to cars has limited effects and users are able to detect the effect only when it was generated in combination with other policies. This policy is most closely and directly related to the policy measures that can shorten bus travel times.

The direct policy objective of exclusive median bus lanes is to shorten these travel times. This is the ultimate goal of car users when switching from a car to a bus. However, bus travel times from a user’s point of view also includes the time getting to the bus stop, bus waiting time and bus stop departure time as well as the time spent on the bus. It may also include the time while the bus itself waits to comply with bus timetables after boarding. In addition, exclusive median bus lanes (with the aim of maintaining relatively higher bus running speeds than those of other vehicles) are only effective in overcoming a drop in driving speed due to congestion; however, the cannot control other factors such as signaling systems and accident vehicles. Therefore, this policy is closely related to overall policy measures that can reduce the total travel time of the buses such as the integration of charges mobilized in public transportation integration and, in particular, electronic freight payment means, service linkage with other public transport modes, bus stop connections and the automation of public transport information as well as having a close complementary relation with a series of TSM (Transport System Management) such as signaling system synchronization, bus priority signal system, control and management of bus stops and surveillance of illegal parking and illegal use of exclusive median bus lanes.