Gwangju On The Move

The Second Metro Line and Beyond

Photos Courtesy of Park Nam-eon

The city of Gwangju has historically taken longer to develop than other Korean cities, but the past few years have seen a big spark, particularly in the expanding transportation system. Following the March 2015 opening of the KTX Line at Songjeong Station, Gwangju Metro Line 2 is one of the biggest projects currently in development.

Coming off the success of the 2015 Summer Universiade, Gwangju News recently sat down with Gwangju Transportation and Construction Director Park Nam-eon at his office in City Hall to discuss recent events, Line 2 and other changes that residents can expect to see in coming years.

“The KTX train shortens the distance between Seoul and Gwangju to less than two hours,” Park said. “I expect more people to come and enjoy the cultural and culinary advantages.”

According to Park, Gwangju’s city transportation is already recognized as one of the best and most efficient in the nation. The National Transportation Agency has found Gwangju to have the shortest commute times in the country. In particular, the 5.6 km-long Second Beltway makes a drive to any point in the city no more than 30 minutes.

Recognizing that traffic is still centered on the roads and expressways, public transit is undergoing an overhaul, with the building of Line 2 at the forefront. Although Metro Line 1 has been in partial operation since 2004 and in full operation since 2008, subway riders make up only 4% of Gwangju’s total transportation use, compared with 35% for bus use.

Line 2 looks to substantially increase the number of subway users, connecting the subway with many more Gwangju city bus routes and important landmarks such as Gwangju Station and Chonnam National University. A line off the southern section of the loop will connect to Hyocheon Station in Nam-gu.

“There are people in favor of and against Line 2,” Park said. “Opposition comes from the high running and management costs. Reasons for support include the subway being more efficient and convenient for the increasing elderly population.”

Local environmental groups have also raised concerns about Line 2’s effect on the Pureun-Gil Greenway Path, an 8-kilometer urban forest running from Gyerim-dong in Dong-gu to Juwol-dong in Nam-gu that overlaps with the southeastern portion of the planned loop.

“One of the basic principles is to keep the Greenway Path,” Park said. “Despite the higher cost of keeping it, we have to preserve it. We have to dig underground.”

With the debates over the advantages and disadvantages of a second metro line, the start date for the 10-year construction project looks to be pushed back from the end of 2016 to another year or two in the future.

Park clarified some other points about Line 2’s operation. “The first step is to build the loop and the second step is to connect it down to Hyocheon Station,” he said. “We are planning to continue our policy of free transfer between the bus and the subway.”

To accommodate cyclists, Line 1 allows bicycles on its cars during the weekends, but the Line 2 concept includes a different plan to encourage more recreational and commuter cycling.

“We constructed a road along the three rivers that we consider a ‘bike highway,’” Park explained. “Another plan is for people to come to the subway by bike and use the bike to go back home. Line 2 cars will be smaller than cars on Line 1, so the bikes may not be allowed. We expect them to be parked in the station. We are planning to expand the city bike system.”

The city received a positive evaluation of transportation after the Summer Universiade, based on a number of key measures that Park explained.

“On even-number dates, cars with even-numbered license plates were allowed to drive and on odd-number dates, cars with odd-numbered license plates were. Public transportation was limited around the Athlete’s Village. To lower the use of individual cars, we implemented a shuttle bus system between major spots of transportation.”

Future development plans can benefit from the lessons learned during the event.

“We learned that collaboration is crucial between City Hall, police agencies and private transportation companies,” Park said. “We were worried about the voluntary support of the citizens, but we were given quite a lot of enthusiastic support. We decided to form a transportation committee among the relative parties for future transport.”

Although the recent spread of the MERS virus threatened to affect the long-awaited sporting event, there was no patient infected in Gwangju and the games went on as planned.

“The event was a great success, so the president invited Universiade leaders to the Blue House,” said Park.

The September World Bamboo Festival in Damyang could also benefit from improved transportation infrastructure, with Park and the Damyang County Governor agreeing to run a shuttle bus from Songjeong Station to the event.

As for the city bus system, the new 02 express bus route opened just before the Universiade, chiefly to accommodate the influx of workers at the new Naju Innovation City, who as Park explained “wanted a faster bus that would go from the southern part to major areas such as City Hall and Cheonnam University.”

Commenting on transportation safety, Park admitted that despite the efficiency of the system, accidents are at a very high level, which he attributes more to drivers’ attitudes than to infrastructure. He also explained that while the southwest region of Korea is less susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, there are other manmade safety issues.

“The safety concern is mostly from infrastructure such as buildings and bridges. The biggest concern is the Yeonggwang Nuclear Plant. We developed a manual for the possibility of nuclear disaster.”

With all the current and future changes in the way Gwangju moves, Park encourages local residents to make their voices heard. Subway and bus riders, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians can always contact the Transportation and Construction Department with requests, criticisms and suggestions.