Seoul to Begin Night Bus Services

Update: This trial was successful and now we have 9 night lines operating in Seoul. More information can be retrieved here.

One question that is often asked by many while living in Seoul is why there is no public transport in the earliest hours of the morning. This will soon change when two new night bus services begin operating across Seoul from April 19 with more to come later in the year.

The two routes N26 and N37 stretch across Seoul to make getting home late easier for citizens  The N26 route travels: Western Seoul Depot – Hongdae – Sinchon – Jongno – Cheongnyangni – Mangu – Jungnang Depot and the N37 route is: Jingwan Depot – Seodaemun – Jongno – Gangnam Station – Daechidong – Garak Market – Songpa Depot. The services will initially run every 35-40 minutes from midnight until 5am and will cost the same fare as standard city buses. (Note that the last buses of the night leave the depot at 3:10am.) Update: Here are a couple of links to more detailed maps of where the buses stop in Korean.

If the routes aren’t much help to you then don’t fret because six more night services going to other places in Seoul are also planned to begin in July. “Current Affairs Factory” (시사공작소) has published a map of all the future services, though it doesn’t appear to be an official image. One confusing point is that TOPIS has announced the bus numbers as N26 and N37, but other media is reporting route numbers as routes 1-8.

According to the Chosun Ilbo, late running buses were trialed last December to dissipate demand for taxis in the midst of a rising trend of drivers refusing to take passengers. The buses were a success and Seoul’s transport planners hope that the new night services will give citizens the option of a cheap and safe way home in the wee hours. Night drivers will also be separately recruited to operate the buses, and vehicles will be fitted with a speed restriction device which doesn’t allow the bus to travel over 70 km/h.

For a megacity that often finishes work late and with a culture of staying up after hours, the move seems obvious. It will be interesting to see whether taxi drivers take exception to the new services as they are bound to prove popular once word gets out. Drunken behavior and security issues are often an issue on early morning services in other countries, and this may be something that comes up once people begin using them.