Owl Buses spread their wings as pandemic winds down

Map of Seoul's Owl Bus routes [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Seoul is expanding nighttime Owl Bus operations as life returns to pre-pandemic normal.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Tuesday it will increase the number of Owl Buses routes in phases from nine to 15. This includes one of the routes — N65 — being separated into two new routes, N51 an N64.

The number of buses running will be increased from 72 to 100.

Since 2013, Owl Buses have operated between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. at a fare of 2,150 won ($1.77). They are similar to London’s Night Bus Services, Paris’ Noctilien and San Francisco’s All Nighter buses.

Four of the new routes — N51, N64, N72 and N75 — will begin on April 18, when current social distancing measures end. They will run in major commercial districts in the city, including around Gangnam Station, Hongdae Station, Gwanghwamun Station, and Mokdong Station.

The other two routes — N32 and N34 — will open in May.

“We established the new east-west and north-south routes based on big data and after analyzing the public demand,” the city government explained.

With its expanded services, the daily Owl Bus passenger capacity is expected to rise by 5,000 to 20,000.

According to the city government, the daily average of Owl Bus passengers, which was 4,903 in January last year, increased by 110 percent to 10,320 in November after the government announced its "Living with Covid" policies. But as the plan was soon called off due to a surge of Covid-19 cases, that plummeted to 5,253 in February.

The fare and free transfer system within an hour of travel will remain unchanged. This is expected to be a much cheaper form of travel than taxis and help revitalize business in major commercial districts, the city said.

Detailed information on the Owl Bus operations can be checked at Seoul’s Transport Operation & Information Service (Topis) website or its mobile application.

"As Seoul's urban economic activities are also operated 24 hours due to changes in the social and economic structure, it is necessary to expand late-night public transportation services tailored to changes in citizens' lives," said Baek Ho, head of the department of city traffic at the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]