Threatened bus strike could cause public transport chaos

All city and inter-city buses nationwide could stop operating from Thursday morning if the National Assembly passes a revised act Wednesday that acknowledges taxis as a means of public transportation.

“Five hundred bus operators and 100,000 bus drivers cannot but express anger toward ignorance of the political circles, who are only interested in garnering votes in the upcoming presidential election,” said the bus union through a statement released Monday.

Around 48,000 city and inter-city busses are in operation nationwide.

The union plans to have general strikes starting from Thursday morning if the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly Wednesday passes the revised act, which was unanimously passed at the Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Committee last Thursday.

“We (union members), as well as the government department in charge and traffic experts, submitted petitions against the act to the committee, but they have ignored all of them,” said an official from the bus union.

The act if legislated will likely give taxis state subsidies and allow them to drive in the currently bus-only lanes.

The union warned of an indefinite strike when the act is passed at the plenary session at the Assembly held on Thursday and Friday.

While many people on social networking sites and other Web portals are expressing concerns over the bus strikes due to inconvenience, many also expressed their opposition to the National Assembly’s move to acknowledge taxis as public transport.

“I can’t imagine taxis running on bus-only lanes. Taxis are not a transportation means for the public but for individual passengers,” one university student posted on Facebook.

The Seoul City government plans to gear up for the possible general strikes as they prepare to mobilize town buses and chartered buses.

The running schedules for subway will also be extended when the strikes occur,” said Song Young-kwon from the city’s transportation policy bureau.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)