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| Commuters wearing face masks wait for their trains at a subway station in Seoul, Feb. 9. The daily number of riders on the Seoul subway system breached the 7 million mark for the first time in one-and-a-half years, April 29. AP-Yonhap |
The daily number of riders on the Seoul subway system breached the 7 million mark for the first time in one-and-a-half years, April 29, data showed Thursday, partly on the back of rollbacks of COVID-19 restrictions.
According to the data from Seoul subway operator Seoul Metro, 7,210,000 people rode subway trains in the capital that day, marking the most single-day riders since Oct. 30, 2020.
An average of 7,320,000 riders used the Seoul subway system daily in 2019, the data showed. The average tally, however, plummeted to 5,300,000 between February 2020 and March 2022.
Starting April 18, the country removed most of its pandemic restrictions, including a 10-person limit on private gatherings and a midnight curfew at restaurants, coffee shops and bars.
Seoul subway trains carried an average of 6,620,000 people every day from April 25 to 30, up from 5,900,000 people from April 18 to 24, the data showed.
Noticeably, the average daily number of riders on the Seoul subway during nighttime went up from 227,000 in the April 11 to 15 period to 240,000 in the April 25 to 29 period.
Last week, the Seoul city government said it will begin resuming late-night public transportation operations in the city by extending daily subway operation hours through 1 a.m., instead of midnight, on weekdays, starting sometime in June. (Yonhap)
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