Rep. Lee Gwang-jae of the Democratic Party of Korea, who represents the Hanam-gap constituency in Gyeonggi Province, held a community forum Friday on expanding Hanam's metropolitan bus network to ease residents' commuting burden.
According to Lee's office, the forum focused on practical solutions including new bus routes and increased service frequency in the Gamil and Wirye areas, which lack rail connections, as well as the introduction of hydrogen-powered demand-responsive transit, or DRT, linking those neighborhoods to key hubs in Seoul.
Participants included Lee, Ajou University Urban Transportation Research Center professor Lee Yong-ju, Zero Cool Tour CEO Park Sang-wook, Gyeonggi Province Assembly members Kang Seong-sam and Oh Min-yong, Hanam City Council members Jeong Hye-yeong and Choi Seung-tae, and local residents serving as panelists and audience members. A representative from the Metropolitan Area Transportation Commission, or MATC, under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — the body overseeing the Greater Seoul transit network — also attended.
The MATC's on-site presence to hear residents' concerns directly was described as unusual, and observers credited Lee's persistent efforts to connect Hanam's transit issues to central government policymakers.
"Hanam has long been an island of transportation, and Gamil and Wirye in particular still have no rail service, forcing residents to spend precious hours of their lives stuck in traffic every day," Lee said. "If rail is the backbone of a transit network, buses are the capillaries. Since completing the rail network will take years, expanding metropolitan bus service to relieve the daily commuting burden is urgent."
Professor Lee Yong-ju, who delivered the keynote presentation on the current state and plans for Greater Seoul's metropolitan bus policy, analyzed Hanam's public transit situation using big data. The analysis found that 77.1 percent of Hanam residents' public transit trips are outbound, with most connecting to Seoul's Gangdong, Songpa and Gangnam districts. Yet only 10.7 percent of those trips involve at least one metropolitan bus ride, pointing to a need for network expansion.
A panel discussion moderated by Lee then examined concrete improvement measures based on detailed route-level data. Gyeonggi Province Assembly member Oh Min-yong said bus routes in Gamil and Wirye were "critically insufficient given the population size and metropolitan commuting demand." Park Sang-wook, CEO of Zero Cool Tour, proposed introducing a "Hanam-style hydrogen bus DRT" — which he said would be a first of its kind nationwide.
Before the forum, Lee compiled residents' feedback gathered through both online and in-person channels and formally submitted an improvement proposal to the MATC's metropolitan bus division under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Discussion converged on pursuing new direct bus routes to Seoul in the short term, with expanded Seoul bus service into Hanam and additional metropolitan bus routes as medium- to long-term goals.
"Quickly relieving citizens' daily commuting hardship is the most pressing task," Lee said. "We will push hard on the short-term solution of demand-responsive direct buses to Seoul and deliver results. No matter how difficult, we will move forward step by step and prove through concrete outcomes that Hanam's transit transformation is real."
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