A "30-minute city" will be implemented through the establishment of a convenient wide-area transportation network at the level of major developed countries, which has more than three times the extension of the metropolitan railway in the metropolitan area.

Along with this, the congestion of wide-area buses will disappear and wide-area transportation services will be improved by 100% conversion to hydrogen and electric wide-area buses.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Roh, Hyung-wook) and the Metropolitan Transport Commission (Chairman Baek, Seung-geun) announced that the 'The Second Metropolitan Area Transit Basic Plan' (2021~2040) containing the goals and implementation strategies of metropolitan transportation over the next 20 years was finalized on October 28.

The 'Second Metropolitan Area Transit Basic Plan' (2021~2040), which can be called as 'K-Mobility Master Plan', is a 20-year legal plan established under the Special Act on the Management of Metropolitan Area Traffic. It has been prepared through a process of collecting opinions such as research services and public hearings of specialized institutions (Traffic Research Institute).

The 'Second Metropolitan Area Traffic Basic Plan' (2021~2040), which was confirmed on this day, contains the prospects for future traffic demand along with four strategies and tasks considering future megatrends based on the vision of 'wide-area transportation leading to the mutual growth of everyday life and region'.

■Expansion of infrastructure to secure basic rights for wide-area traffic

▷It will establish a metropolitan railway network at the level of advanced countries and restore the arterial function of roads to realize a 30-minute life zone in the metropolitan areas.

▷ It will more than triple the wide-area railway network, including metropolitan express railway networks and regional railways between bases in the non-metropolitan area, to 80% in 2040, and actively expand the wide-area railway between bases in the non-metropolitan area to lead balanced national development.

▷ By expanding the circular road network and underground roads, the network of roads in the metropolitan area will be strengthened and the congestion on the wide-area transportation axis will be effectively improved.

▷ It will also create a convenient public transportation environment by expanding low-cost, high-efficiency transportation and transfer centers.

▷It will significantly expand the BRT (intermediate express bus) network and spread trams that are used as means of transportation linked to SBRT (SuperBRT) and GTX base stations to provide subway-level services.

▷ It will establish 30 GTX-centered transfer centers by 2040, reducing transfer time to less than 3 minutes and transfer distance by half and introducing future transfer facilities that support new transportation means such as autonomous vehicles and UAM.

■The user-friendly improvement of wide-area transportation operation system

▷It enhances the convenience of users by strengthening the publicity of wide-area buses and improving the level of service.

▷The metropolitan bus semi-public system, which combines public performance and efficiency, will be expanded from three routes in 2020 to all routes in the metropolitan area in 2030 to strengthen the stable operation base of metropolitan buses.

▷By diversifying wide-area bus services such as expanding wide-area bus routes, supporting the increase of bus, and introducing premium wide-area buses to solve the blind spot of wide-area transportation, the government will solve the congestion of commuting and systematically manage the service quality of all wide-area bus routes by establishing user-centered wide-area bus service standards.

▷ It will establish a diverse and reasonable wide-area transportation fare system and introduce a user-friendly wide-area transportation service evaluation.

▷The integrated transfer discount system operated by some parts of the metropolitan and provincial metropolitan areas will be expanded nationwide in 2030, introducing "regional-tailored thrifty transportation cards" linking regional public transportation policies, and launching various regular ticket products.

▷Based on mobility, convenience, and safety, it will develop evaluation indicators for wide-area transportation services in metropolitan areas and regularly conducts surveys and evaluations to support policy establishment.

■Establishment of an eco-friendly and smart transportation system

The plan aims to establish an eco-friendly transportation system that leads to carbon neutrality.

By 2040, the number of wide-area double-decker electric buses, which began operation this year, will be expanded to 600 by 2040, and eco-friendly transportation such as eco-friendly charging facilities and hydrogen tram will be introduced through R&D.

▷It realizes a smart transportation system based on technological innovation

According to the level of development of autonomous driving technology, new wide-area transportation technology will be introduced by commercializing autonomous BRT and wide-area buses step by step from 2025 and introducing autonomous shuttles to enhance access to railroads and wide-area buses.

▷In 2030, it will promote a pilot project for integrated transportation services (MMaaS) and commercialization of IoT-based integrated automatic payment systems by connecting all means of transportation on mobile, and upgrading platform-based wide-area transportation services such as demand-response-type wide-area mobility services.

■Securing the sustainability of the wide-area transportation system

It will minimize traffic inconvenience due to proactive wide-area transportation measures, etc., and enhance the reliability of policies by utilizing big data and wide-area transportation governance.

▷It will link the use of national land spaces such as large-scale development and construction projects and measures to improve wide-area transportation in a timely manner and strengthen investment in low-cost and high-efficiency wide-area transportation centered on public transportation.

▷ It supports the establishment of effective metropolitan transport policies by utilizing and analyzing metropolitan transportation big data, expands citizen participation and communication channels, and establishes and operates consultative bodies for win-win development with related local governments.

Meanwhile, the goals and strategies proposed in the "2nd Basic Plan for Metropolitan Area Metropolitan Transportation (2021~2040)" will be embodied through the metropolitan area wide-area transportation implementation plan and sectoral plan (BRT, transfer center, etc.) established every five years.

The transportation master plan announced on the same day is also expected to greatly contribute to regional-led "pan-regional cooperation," such as promoting organic combination between land space plans and wide-area transportation plans, creating wide-area transportation networks to suit regional characteristics.

“Based on the vision and mid-to-long-term strategy established this time, we will consistently pursue the metropolitan area transportation policy that people can experience in everyday lives,” said Kim Gyu-hyun, head of the metropolitan area transportation division.

Reported by Smart City Today