'Did you find a job yet?' — university holiday buses fill up, but fewer students are heading home for Chuseok

As the Chuseok holiday approaches, universities across Seoul have rolled out discounted "homecoming buses" for students who cannot secure train or express bus tickets. While students welcome the half-price fares, the services are running differently than in years past — schools now conduct advance demand surveys before setting routes, reflecting a quieter appetite for holiday travel.

Major universities in the Seoul area are operating the buses for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty ahead of Chuseok. Seoul National University, for instance, is running three routes this year: Gumi–Daegu, Changwon–Busan and Daejeon–Gwangju.

Sogang University and Hongik University are jointly operating five routes departing Seoul and stopping at intermediate cities before terminating in Daejeon, Yeosu, Mokpo, Busan and Jinju. Chung-Ang University has also accepted applications for buses grouped by region — the Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Gangwon Province and Chungcheong region.

The buses, offered as a student welfare benefit, are priced well below standard express bus fares. Seoul National University set its premium-class fare to Daegu at 9,800 won ($7) and its standard fare to Busan at 10,200 won — roughly half the price of tickets from Seoul's Gyeongbu Express Bus Terminal. Students also get to skip the frantic scramble for KTX tickets that repeats every holiday season.

Kim, a 22-year-old student from Daegu, said he has never managed to book a train ticket on the first try during a holiday. "Chasing cancellations every time is stressful," he said. "The bus is slower than the KTX, but the price is much cheaper and it leaves from campus — just having that extra option is enough for me."

Lee Jeong-yeon, 21, whose hometown is Busan, said the cost of traveling home can feel like a burden even during the holidays. "If the bus fare is cheap, it's worth trying at least once," she said, adding that several of her friends had also been looking into the university buses.

However, the role these buses play on campuses has shifted somewhat. Unlike in the past, when students almost universally headed home for every holiday, many now delay or shorten their trips because of job-hunting commitments or part-time work.

Lee Gyu-jin, 25, a student on a leave of absence whose family lives in Busan, said he plans to stay in the dormitory this Chuseok. "Including the weekend, it's only a four-day break," he said. "I'm also in the middle of preparing for job applications, and honestly the relatives asking 'Did you find a job yet?' and 'How's it going?' is its own kind of pressure."

The fading tradition of the whole family gathering under one roof for the holidays also appears to be a factor. Choi Gyeong-won, 23, said his family has taken to traveling abroad together during holidays because coordinating schedules at other times of year is too difficult. "My parents actually prefer it," he said. "They live in Seoul now, and we don't see extended family that often, so there's really no reason to go back to the hometown."

In response, universities have moved away from running fixed routes automatically each holiday and instead assign buses only to destinations where advance surveys show sufficient demand. "In the past there was an assumption that students would naturally go home for the holidays, but lately students' schedules and circumstances have become much more varied," a university official said. "We now determine our routes by checking actual demand first."