Seoul's push to move up subway operation hours by 30 minutes triggers criticism
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is facing criticism from all three labor unions of subway operator Seoul Metro for pushing operating hours up by 30 minutes to 5 a.m. beginning as early as August. The groups noted that the city, citing an aim to enhance convenience for early commuters, is proceeding with the change without a proper labor-management agreement or traffic demand analysis. “The subway is not a political tool for the Seoul city government,” the first union of the subway operator Seoul Metro said in a statement Thursday. “Stop enforcing the operating hour adjustment excluding labor-management agreements.” “The first adjustment of time should be dealt with a general review of the late-night extended operation, along with the diagnosis of the policy effectiveness, such as passenger demand,” the group said, “It is a matter of considerable changes in the overall work, such as train operation, late-night facility, metro repair and inspection and station safety management, so it needs to be carefully reviewed in various ways.” The second union also criticized the pl
