TRANSFORMATION in public transport use occurs in Seoul. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, fewer Seoul citizens use public transport (such as bus, subway). At the same time, the use of Ttareungi (shared bikes) has surged drastically. With the high awareness on health, the trend has shifted and people prioritise personal mobility.
Statistics shows that total users of public transport (bus, subway) in 2020 (3.4 billion) decreased 25.9% (by 1.2 billion) compared to 2019. However, the number of Ttareungi rentals (23.7 million) increased 24.6% (by 4.67 million) compared to 2019.
The decrease in public transport use might be the result of the applied city’s social distancing campaign and work from home policy. On the other hand, preference for bicycles—as a mode of personal mobility—increased, as shown by the number of Ttareungi users going up even during commuting hours. It shows that Ttareungi is preferred as a mode of transportation in daily life. The usage rate of Ttareungi for last mile of transportation has surged to 9%, similar to that of buses and subway.
Seeing the shift of trends, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will optimise the use of big data on transportation to develop various transportation policies to meet the needs of citizens and for diverse studies to improve the convenience of using public transportation.
