The Hangang Bus is seen heading toward the Yeouido Pier in Yeongdeungpo-gu, western Seoul on Sept 21. - Photo: Yonhap
SEOUL: Seoul city will suspend passenger services on its new waterborne public transportation system from Monday (Sept 29), just 10 days after its official launch, following a series of technical malfunctions.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Sunday (Sept 28) that the Hangang Bus will switch to trial runs from Monday (Sept 29) until at least the end of October, aiming to enhance stability and safety for its passengers.
Throughout the trial period, buses will run according to their timetables, but without passengers on board.
Billed as South Korea’s first eco-friendly waterborne transportation system, Hangang Buses began official operations on Sept 18.
However, several disruptions have already been reported since the launch, including an electrical system fault on Sept 22 and a rudder malfunction on Friday that forced an abrupt halt in operations.
“The recent issues were minor technical and electrical errors that can occur during the optimization stage,” the city government said through its official statement on Sunday.
“Although each issue was immediately resolved, we believe passenger safety must come first. We therefore decided to conduct extended trial operations under real conditions to ensure safe and stable services for (Hangang Bus) passengers.”
The city government added that the trial period will be used to collect further operational data, improve vessel performance, and refine contingency strategies for adverse weather and other emergency scenarios.
Plans also include fine-tuning vessel components, integrating mechanical and electrical systems, and bolstering crew training and maintenance capacity in collaboration with the engineers behind the vessels.
For those who had already purchased monthly passes, the city government added that a refund of 5,000 won will be issued.
Further instructions regarding the refund process will be provided via the T-money website and its mobile application, as well as individual text messages.
Once trial operations conclude, the city aims to add additional hybrid and electric vessels to reduce the interval periods between river buses and expand operating hours.
While eight Hangang Bus vessels began operations 14 times daily at intervals of about one to 1 1/2 hours from Magok in western Seoul to Jamsil in southern Seoul, the city government had initially planned to add four more boats by the end of the year, increasing the number of operations to 48 times daily at shorter intervals of 30 minutes to one hour. - The Korea Herald/ANN
