Siksa-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.

A shuttle bus has been running since the end of November last year in this place called the dining area.

This is a shuttle bus that connects the apartment complex with Daegok Station, a transfer station for Subway Line 3 and Gyeongui Jungang Line.

When residents open a smartphone application and take a QR code boarding pass to get on the shuttle bus, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get to Daegok Station.

Four of these shuttle buses run every 10 minutes during rush hour.



Why did this shuttle bus come to be?

Resident Kim Hyung-il, who is in charge of the Sikdaegok Shuttle operation chairman, emphasizes that this dining area was a transportation-negligible area.

He said, "It didn't work because the light rail contract was cancelled, and there was talk of extending the status of the trainee (nothing)."

There is no station nearby, so there is too much time wasted on the road.

From the apartment complex, it takes about 20 minutes to get to the nearest subway station (Baekma Station, Wondang Station) by taking the existing village bus (to get to Daegok Station from there, you need to transfer to the subway and take another subway).

The village bus that goes to Daegok Station at one time takes about 40 minutes because the route is designed to rotate more.

"In Goyang, we promised that it would be a tram. They said we would wait another 10 years, so we will go first with our own money (by shuttle bus)."

Mr. Kim says residents have just found a way to help themselves.

It is said that 1,460 households in all 7 apartment complexes in the vicinity pay a monthly membership fee of 16,000 won and pay a fare of 1,000 won for each ride.



Three nearby village bus companies that were watching this shuttle bus stopped last month.

He filed an injunction against the Shuttle Bus Management Association to ban the operation of the shuttle bus.

First of all, I emphasized that the operation of this shuttle bus is illegal.

According to the current Passenger Vehicle Transportation Business Act (Article 81), a non-commercial vehicle (personal vehicle) must not be provided for transportation with money, and this is the case with this shuttle bus.

Lee Yang-cheon, managing director of Daedeok Transportation, who operates a village bus in this area, said, "Isn't it supposed to be done without violating the law?" He said, "I'm commuting for a similar amount of time in other areas. I asked if this request was true.

If that's the case, I'm guessing you'll have to take a taxi.

He also added an explanation that it would incur losses in the operation of the village bus.

He pointed out that if the introduction of such shuttle buses spreads across the country, the system that sets routes and operates buses may collapse.

“If there are no passengers by the town bus, it will end up in a loss. Let’s assume that it is supported by the city budget. Because it is money received from taxes, a person who takes the money paid by a person who does not ride (the bus) gets on the bus It's a benefit."



The shuttle bus management association presented the case of the Supreme Court in the past and responded that there was no problem with this shuttle bus.

It is said that the Supreme Court once ruled that it was not illegal for an apartment resident representative meeting to operate a bus for residents.

On the other hand, the village bus company emphasizes that the judgment cannot be regarded as a case like this one.

It is not possible to immediately determine that the shuttle bus case is also not illegal because the way residents paid for it and whether the bus was routed was different from this case.

There are different opinions as to how to interpret and apply Article 81 of the Passenger Transport Business Act introduced earlier.



In December of last year, Goyang City Hall, the competent authority, commissioned the police to investigate this shuttle bus.

The purpose is to examine the provisions of the law, precedents, and this case to determine whether it is illegal or not.

Goyang City Hall said, "The scope of the operating entity, the range of users, and the ownership relationship of the car cannot be accurately determined, so we are investigating these specific facts," said Goyang City Hall.

Ilsan Eastern Police Station, Gyeonggi Province, who was commissioned for the investigation, said it will reply to the results of the investigation within this week, after about three months.

If the police decide that the shuttle bus is illegal, the shuttle bus management association will be sent to the prosecution for violating the Passenger Transport Business Act.

The first interrogation began on the 28th in the case of an application for injunction against operation by village bus companies.

Whether it is illegal or not will be decided by the court, but it is regrettable that such a dispute could not have been resolved through consultation between the parties involved before going to court.

What will be the end of the meal-dong shuttle bus?

What do you think?



Composition: Ha-jeong Park, Yu-mi Kim / Video coverage: Hyun-cheol Yang / Editing: Gyeong-sil Hong / Design: Jae-eun Seong / SBS Digital Exploration and Production Department