| On the Gyeongbu Expressway near the Jamwon Interchange in southern Seoul, vehicles heading south pack the roads on Thursday afternoon. Yonhap |
Road trips increase as more people head to hometowns following lifting of social distancing
By Ko Dong-hwan
More than 30 million people in Korea are expected to hit the road starting Friday when the country's Chuseok holiday begins. This Chuseok is the first major traditional holiday since the government lifted social distancing measures ― limiting private gathering sizes, multi-facility operating hours, and food consumption in public spaces.
For this long weekend, the government announced several other measures to enhance traveler convenience, minimize COVID-19 infections and maintain traffic safety. Traffic was already jammed on Thursday, the day before the four-day holiday officially begins, as families can gather more freely as this year for the holiday.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, for starters, has designated the period from Friday to the following Monday as a special traffic-monitoring period, during which it won't charge drivers expressway toll fees. The toll-free policy, which the country has been offering to road travelers nationwide every Chuseok for decades, was halted following the Lunar New Year holiday in February 2020 when the risk of COVID-19 infection started to increase and people were discouraged from traveling.
| People move luggage inside Terminal 2 at Incheon International Airport, Thursday. Yonhap |
The perk is effective on all expressways operated by the state-run Korea Expressway Corporation and 21 privately run expressways nationwide, including the one connected to Incheon International Airport. Other toll-charging expressways operated by local municipalities will depend on each local government's independent decisions on whether or not to keep charging tolls.
The latest traffic measure came after the Korea Transport Institute, a state-run agency under the office of the prime minister, recently released an analysis report predicting that some 30,170,000 people, or 6.03 million per day, would be traveling across the country during the four days. The report also said that over 90 percent of the travelers will use private vehicles for this year's Chuseok, the first since the country's social distancing measures were lifted last April.
The traffic congestion is expected to peak on Friday, which is the day most people will travel to their hometowns, as well as the following Sunday and Monday, when they are expected to return home. The institute expected that some 5.42 million vehicles will hit the road each day during the four-day period on average. The figure is a 13.4 percent jump from last year's Chuseok, along with a 20 percent increase from the number of vehicles on the roads during any average weekend, which is about 4.5 million.
| Travelers heading to Seoul at Gwangju Express Bus Terminal wait for their buses on Thursday, a day before the country's traditional Chuseok holiday begins. Yonhap |
As to the time it will take vehicles to travel the 350 kilometers between Seoul and Mokpo in South Jeolla Province ― a route often used to estimate overall travel times across the country ― it will take almost 10 hours on Friday, according to the institute. Driving to Busan (some 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul) will take almost the same number of hours, while it will take nine hours to get to Gwangju (some 300 kilometers south of Seoul) on the same day.
The institute said, however, that it expects the return-trip home next week will take one or two hours less than Friday.
Expressway rest area facilities ― combining gas stations, restaurants and small shops ― will also receive a boost with more portable toilets and maintenance personnel to run the venues. Nine major facilities will introduce temporary PCR test centers during the period for visitors to get tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms before or after visiting their hometowns. PCR tests at these nine temporary test centers will be free between Sept. 9 and 12.
The holiday period will also see a major increase in the number of available public transportation to accommodate more travelers. Seoul, Busan, Gwangju and Ulsan will extend the operating hours for their buses and subways to cover late-night travelers.
| A band plays inside Busan Station, Thursday, to entertain travelers. It was part of the BNK Lunch Concert held by BNK Busan Bank to welcome visitors to the station for Chuseok. Yonhap |
As for express buses traveling nationwide across provinces, a total of 342 buses will be added to the service fleet to expand transportation capacity by 23 percent, increasing the daily service count overall from 4,468 to 5,494. For high-speed trains, there will be 122 additional daily services offered during the period, expanding the overall daily service count from 4,096 to 4,218. It will provide 102,000 additional seats during the period, 72,000 for the KTX and 18,000 for the SRT.
Some 225 extra flights will be added for domestic air travelers, increasing the overall service count during the period from 3,095 to 3,320 ― an extra 50,000 seats. As for ships, 367 additional services will be added, increasing the overall service count during the period from 3,859 to 4,226 to carry 150,000 more passengers.
The land ministry also plans to crack down harder on traffic safety violators during the period, targeting drivers who don't fasten their seatbelts, drive under the influence of alcohol and break speed limits. The authority said they will deploy some 50 drones equipped with cameras over the country's 21 busiest rest area facilities to monitor and relay information on targets to patrols on the ground.