Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Seoul City's bike-sharing service to undergo upgrade
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon rides a bicycle of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's “Ttareungyi” bike-sharing service across the street from City Hall, Oct. 22. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Mayor Oh pledges 'Ttareungyi Season 2'
By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul City is planning to enhance convenience of the capital's public bike-sharing service, Ttareungyi, which has been gaining popularity since its introduction in 2015. At the end of last month, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said he was preparing for “Ttareungyi Season 2” with an upgraded system and services.
His comments come after strong criticism erupted following a report released by a lawmaker that the city is moving to scale down the bike-sharing service, which was one of the key achievements of Oh's predecessor, Park Won-soon.
“It is not true that we will stop having new bikes,” Oh said, Oct. 22, while riding a Ttareungyi bike himself and meeting with members of the public. “Rather we'll improve services by upgrading the infrastructure and collecting public opinion on its inconveniences.”
Currently there are 37,500 Ttareungyi bikes and 2,500 rental stations. The city government said it will introduce 6,000 new bikes by next year ― bringing the total number of bikes to 43,500 ― and install some 250 additional rental stations.
It plans to enhance efficiency by analyzing demand, reducing the bike parking spaces at places where fewer people use the service and instead expanding the spaces at locations with more users.
“The bike lanes along the Han River are crowded, and we are devising a way to expand those lanes as well,” Oh said.
He said he will significantly strengthen public convenience through expansion of cycling paths by 2025.
Bikes of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Ttareungyi bike-sharing service are parked at a rental station in Seoul in this Sept. 27, 2018 photo. Korea Times file
The controversy over the future of Ttareungyi emerged on Oct. 19 when Rep. Park Wan-joo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea concluded during a National Assembly inspection that the city decided not to allocate a budget for purchasing new bikes next year, based on data received from the city government.
After Oh took office in April, there had been rumors about downsizing the bike-sharing service of the former mayor. Some rumors were based on the fact that the number of Ttareungyi bikes has not increased this year ― unlike other years ― and the city's plan to introduce 500 electric bikes has also been canceled.
The service has also seen its deficit increase from 4.2 billion won ($3.57 million) in 2017 to 9.8 billion won last year. Despite the deficit, the service fee has remained the same at 1,000 won per hour.
But the city data released by Rep. Park drew strong backlash from citizens, reflecting the popularity of the service.
As of September, 3.25 million people are registered as Ttareungyi users, equivalent to one third of Seoul's population. People used the service some 24 million times from January to September this year, up 36 percent from the same period last year.
Mindful of the controversy, Oh wrote on Facebook, “I am a fan of Ttareungyi myself,” expressing his intention to continue the service despite the deficit in favor of providing transportation welfare.
“The prototype of Ttareungyi, introduced in 2009 when I previously served as mayor, was aimed at creating a public cycling system,” he said. “And I was glad that former Mayor Park developed the idea of and came up with the system under the name of Ttareungyi.”
Oh, a bike fan who rides every weekend, said he has been thinking about how to make Seoul a “bicycle paradise” and upgrade the Ttareungyi service.
“With the operation of the Ttareungyi program over the past six years, there have been things to fix and improve in terms of service quality. The city government will expand its supply and improve its services to satisfy the 3.25 million users. I, too, will continue to be a fan of Ttareungyi.”