“Take the next bus! I need to close the door.”

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 is coming under control, students have returned, but buses have not come back yet. Bus "Geumjeong 7" around Pusan National University (PNU), referred to as a shuttle bus, again became a “jammed-up” bus that was seen every morning decades ago. That is because offline classes totally started from the second semester of 2022, but the number of buses operated simultaneously which was reduced due to COVID-19 increased by only one.

On September 14th and 15th, The reporter could see that students were fully lined up in front of PNU Subway Station to wait for the shuttle bus. The line was extremely long, continuing inside to the ticket gate in the station. The scene of getting on the bus seemed like the 1980s bus. The bus company staff pushed up students like bus attendants in the past. Students were on the bus stairs and went up dangerously to make one more person get on. The anonymous student A (Dept. of Geological Science, 19) said, "When I get on the stairs, I have to get down and get back on repeatedly to stay out of the way for other students who get off at every stop. A few days ago, when the typhoon was coming up, I repeatedly got on and off at every stop, so I was soaked wet in the rain."

Satirizing this, on the anonymous online community Everytime of PNU, postings were uploaded in comparison with the scene in which a bus attendant pushes passengers into a bus in the animation "Black Rubber Shoes" based on the 1960s, and an Indian train which was jam-packed with passengers from the top to the handrail. The anonymous student A said, “I was often rejected from taking the bus at the stop of the main entrance or the Busan Bank."

■ The Inconvenience For Students

The reason why the shuttle bus became “jammed-up” is to reduce the number of buses operated simultaneously. The shuttle bus company, Daeyoung Bus, has a total of eight buses. Before the pandemic, all eight buses were provided at the same time during rush hour. Still, only six are being operated currently regardless of the hour, and two are left in front of the Gyeongam Gym. It has only increased services by one more bus though the number of buses decreased to five in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.

The night bus was definitely gone. The buses before the pandemic had been operated at an interval of every 40 minutes after 8 PM, but are still not re-operating after stopping the service. Especially most students in the College of Art need the night buses because they usually go home at night by reason of making artwork or practicing their instruments. The students with driver's licenses can take personal mobility (PM), paying the extra charge, but others have to walk down the campus for about 20~30 minutes to the main entrance and PNU station at night.

The anonymous student C said, “I usually go home after 9 PM because of my graduation work or working all night. I am so tired of walking about 30 minutes to the subway all the time.” The students who have to return to the dormitory at night are in the same situation. The anonymous student D (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 21), living in the Woongbee Hall, said, “When finishing college events at night, I was soaking wet with sweat while climbing up to the dormitory.”

The intervals are not being kept. According to the Bus Information Management System, all six buses are currently available in the morning, maintaining about four-minute intervals, but the number of buses operated simultaneously is reduced to three in the afternoon. At this time, if the two buses are too close, the intervals between two and the other one increase to 15 minutes. The anonymous student B (Dept. of Business & Administration,  18) complained, “PNU Students Total Care System says the intervals in the afternoon are only 7-minutes, but now the intervals are more than double. They were too long compared to the past.”

■ The Shuttle Buses Directly Hit by the Pandemic

The reason why the bus operation cannot recover to pre-pandemic levels is due to the financial aggravation of the company. Geumjeong 7, the shuttle bus route, is a “shuttle bus” under private management. It is different from a “city bus” whose deficits are supported by the Busan government in the semi-public system. The company has to handle all profits and losses. DaeYoung Bus is a small-sized company with only one shuttle bus route. According to the company, it has been hit directly by reduced passengers over the past two years. The number of bus drivers , 13 people in the past, was reduced to eight because they could not cope with the loss, and one more person was laid off this year. That is why even though it has eight buses, it is not able to operate them due to the lack of drivers to run them. Shin Yu-Yeol (Vice-President, Daeyoung Bus) said, “We paid a salary from debt and fired the drivers by increasing the debt to 80 million won, so the pressure of labor costs prevented us from increasing the number of buses and resuming night service.”

Daeyong Bus says that the financial difficulties have increased because most passengers are “transfer free,” overlapping with COVID-19. Vice-President Shin said, “The number of passengers who do not pay due to subway transfer is about 40%, so the route itself is structurally problematic. The government partially supports the loss caused by free transfer, but it is less than half of the basic fare.” Ye Sang-Soo (Official, Busan City Hall) said, “We can not clarify exactly what the amount is, though. The government has supported 40~50% of the loss caused by the free transfer. We also understand most passengers mostly transfer on certain routes, but that doesn’t excuse providing additional support or switching to bus routes because it is not a kind of public city bus.”

PNU has been trying to find a solution to this issue. Jung Yun-Yong (Official, Office of General Administration) said, “We fully understand the inconvenience of students and will continue to communicate with Daeyoung Bus and make supporting plans to improve the situation as much as possible. Additionally, we will induce temporary recruitment of drivers even during rush hour or consider supporting with the budget from the PNU headquarters.”

Reporter Jun Hyung-Seo

Translated by Park Yeon-Hee