“Ulsan city bus headways are too long”: More than half of riders call for shorter intervals

【Financial News Ulsan = Choi Su-sang, staff writer】A survey found that more than half of Ulsan city bus riders want shorter intervals between buses.
According to Ulsan City on the 14th, a preliminary analysis of public comments on city bus route changes, which have been accepted online and offline since August 26, found that shorter intervals between buses drew the most support: 4,313 of the 8,432 responses to a question about route adjustments (51.1%).
This was followed by route changes, with 2,478 responses (29.4%), and route adjustments and shortening, with 1,641 (19.5%).
Ulsan City plans to release the final results in November after accepting comments through October 31. With many people calling for shorter intervals, the city said it would comprehensively analyze demand for each route and operating conditions to review the need for additional buses and ways to improve bus intervals.
The survey drew a total of 9,448 participants as of the end of September: 8,485 online and 963 offline. People in their 30s accounted for the largest share by age group, at 19.9%, followed by those in their 50s (18.1%), 20s (17.4%) and 40s (17.2%).
Gender was not separately categorized, given the nature of the survey.
The most common frequency of city bus use among respondents was five or more times a week, at 55.5%; those who rode three to four times a week accounted for 22.4%.
Commuting to work or school was the most common reason for riding, at 32.8%, followed by work and other purposes (22.1%), leisure and social gatherings (18.4%), hospital visits (15.3%), and trips to markets and supermarkets (11.4%).
The public comments collected will serve as baseline data for a study on city bus route changes, scheduled to run from November 2026 to June 2027.
[email protected] Choi Su-sang Reporter