Cars banned from venues on opening day

If you are headed to the opening ceremony for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, you need to take note that personal vehicles will not be able to enter the Olympic venues today.

Regional roads to Heonggye, Gangwon, a major gateway to Olympic venues, will be blocked and drivers will have to park their cars at a parking lot in Daegwallyeong and then take shuttle buses.

The organizing committee for the Games originally considered permitting residents to go through Heonggye, but checking their IDs took too long and created too much traffic, so their entry will be limited for the opening event. However, a spokesperson from the committee said the situation may differ by time and traffic conditions on the day.

The shuttle buses are supposed to run every five to ten minutes from the parking lot. The shuttle buses operate everyday from three hours before the first sporting event until two hours after the last event.

For those who failed to reserve a seat on the KTX, Korea Railroad Corporation says there is still a chance.

According to Korail on Wednesday, the booking rate for the KTX connecting Seoul and Gangneung is only at 56.2 percent during the Olympics. While trains are fully booked for peak hours, about 600,000 seats are still available at less popular times.

On the first and last day of the Olympic Games Korail has added extra KTX trains leaving from Gangneung Station or Jinbu Station after the opening and closing ceremonies. The latest train after the ceremony leaves at 1:45 a.m. Saturday from Jinbu Station and arrives at Seoul Station at about 3:30 a.m.

While Korail has been criticized in local media for not responding to queries on its reservation homepage, as of press time Thursday most of the registered questions appear to have been dealt with.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]