Seoul City's 'Tayo the bus' gaining popularity

Tayo the bus / Seoul City

“Tayo the bus” is officially proving to be a success story of Seoul city.

The animation character Tayo was created in 2008 by Seoul City with a budget of 500 million won.

And over the last four years, the copyright fee for the character has netted the city some 810 million won, according to the city statement.

“With public safety in mind, the city created the character to make transportation friendlier to the public, especially children,” said the statement.

And ICONIX, the copyright holder of the animation character Pororo, and broadcasting company EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) founded a Tayo Special Purpose Company (SPC) to produce an animation movie with Tayo character and to broadcast the film.

Fifty-two episodes from two seasons had been aired, and the third season is being produced.

Tayo is comparable to Pororo, another super-famous animation character created in Korea.

In response to the popularity of Tayo buses, the city said it will make 96 more of them to let more citizens enjoy the public transportation system in full operation on Children’s Day.