From Night Owl to Tech-Savvy: The Rise of Seoul’s Owl Bus Operations
Owl Bus is a night bus project operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government since 2013. As of 2022, nine routes and 72 vehicles were in operation. From 2014 to 2019, the number of users increased to 12,000 per day, but it decreased to 6,000 in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the number of passengers increased by more than 60% after social distancing was relaxed, the number of night bus users recovered to 10,000 per day at the end of 2021.
In April 2022, Seoul Metropolitan Government launched the project for expanding the operation of “Owl Bus (Seoul Night Bus)” a convenient means of nighttime public transportation for citizens, by analyzing late-night travel demand and designing routes based on big data.
Securing nighttime transportation for citizens such as expanding the routes became urgent. Prior to the expansion of Owl Bus operations, Seoul analyzed major travel routes and areas with no access to night buses using about 200 million big data, gathered for the month of November 2021.
These data include:
- 143 million data on the daily movement of citizens
- 65 million data on transportation cards
- 4 million data on taxi usage based on telecommunications data
Based on the big data analysis, the city added six routes, operating 14 routes and 139 vehicles in total. After expanding Owl Bus operations, Seoul’s late-night public transportation capacity increased by 40% within a month, reaching 84% of pre-pandemic levels as of May in 2022
Most of the population who are active during late night hours are economically disadvantaged groups including cleaners and replacement drivers. The floating population during late-night hours was approximately 342,000, but only 2.7% were using night buses. To improve transportation welfare for these vulnerable groups, Seoul provides safe transportation services even during hours when other public transportation is not operated, thereby invigorating the city’s 24-hour economy.
Moreover, as 26% of these people have previously used taxis, Seoul Night Bus also helps ease citizens’ burden of paying taxi fares. The night bus fare is KRW 2,150 ($1.71) and citizens can also enjoy the benefit of free transfer between routes within 1 hour as usual.
About The Author
Jaspal Singh is the Founder of Mobility Innovation Lab (MIL) and Host of the Mobility Innovators Podcast. If you are working on innovative ideas and solving mobility and transportation issues, please feel free to reach out. He loves to talk about startups, mobility, and technology.