Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, middle, inspects the operations of free shuttle buses in western Seoul because the strike by town’s unionized intracity bus employees entered its second day, Wednesday. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Authorities
The longest-ever strike by Seoul’s intracity bus employees entered its second day Wednesday, prompting town authorities to implement emergency transportation measures, together with rising subway and chartered bus providers.
The unionized bus employees within the capital launched their first strike in two years Tuesday after wage talks with the administration broke down.
As of early Wednesday morning, solely 562, or 8 p.c, of town’s 7,018 intracity buses had been in operation, inflicting huge disruption and inconvenience to commuters.
Town authorities mentioned it elevated the variety of extra subway providers throughout rush hour from 172 on Tuesday to 203 on Wednesday. The height commuter prepare service hours had been additionally expanded by two hours Wednesday, in contrast with one hour Tuesday.
As well as, the authorities tried to alleviate platform congestion by sending empty trains to closely congested subway stations throughout rush hour and elevated security personnel to greater than twice the standard stage at 86 main stations.
Town authorities mentioned it mobilized 677 chartered buses on 134 routes all through the capital Tuesday, serving 86,035 passengers. On Wednesday, 86 extra chartered buses had been deployed, bringing the entire to 763. Town’s village buses are working usually. Taxi firms had been requested to extend their fleet operations.
That is the primary strike by unionized bus employees in Seoul in two years since March 2024 and the primary time the strike has lasted two days. Labor and administration are set to renew their negotiations Wednesday afternoon.
