Revolutionizing Public Transportation in Sejong-si | Duruta (2)
In the last post, I’ve covered a brief summary of Duruta, a unique form of a demand-responsive transport service. It operates on-demand based on reservations but has a fixed route and a timetable — which it would skip when there isn’t any demand.
Duruta currently covers every village of Sejong-city according to the press releases, but one village(연기면) is missing from the official website’s list of routes that cover villages.
The list (in the red box) shows the names of the villages to check the details of the service. The information shown for each route looks like below:
All
- Call Center: 1644–8255
- Reservation time: 06:30~19:00 *The call center is open until 20:30
*Reservation at least 1 hour in advance (reservation possible 2–3 hours in advance or the day before) - How to make a reservation: Make a reservation at the call center at least 1 hour in advance
- Reservation change: To change or cancel reservation, call the center at least 30 minutes before the reservation time (can change within the same date only)
- Fare rate: 500 won (only transportation cards can be used, transfer discount apply)
- Number of passengers: 5 people max.
- Information: If a reservation occurs in the same direction during operation, a stopover will be added (shared ride).
Janggun-myeon
- Operating area: Janggun-myeon *Cannot go to other areas, can only drive between designated stops
- Stops: Janggun-myeon office and 46 bus stops
*Habong Reservoir, Habong-ri Senior Citizens’ Center, Habong-ri Dongpyeong Village Entrance, and Songjeong-ri (Sejong Nursing Hospital) operate only on Sundays. - Operation method: Reservation type
- Operating hours: 07:00–20:00 (based on departure time)
So let’s dive into the actual experience!
*The photos and experience of Duruta below were back in 2021, so please note that some details of the service might be different now.
- I called the call center to book a ride and received a text message below.
*The operator asked for origin-destination and desired departure time. I was given a few options around the desired time and was informed of the pick-up location.
*The text message only had the policy listed and didn’t have the booking details included.
2. The van arrived at the pickup location.
*It had the card reader which I tapped my regular transportation card(T-money or any credit/debit card with the T-money feature). You can get transfer discount with Duruta as well. (You get discount for connecting public transportation).
*The van also had Wi-fi just like regular buses.
3. Dropped off the other passenger.
There was another passenger (a middle school student) dropping off, so he got off the van at one of the stops (you wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s one of the virtual bus stops, because there’s no sign at all). The driver told me that she would drive a bit further from the actual bus stop for the elderly, or when it’s raining, etc. So it’s a fixed route bus, but quite flexible!
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4. Arrived at destination.
I booked a round-trip just to test out the service, so the van came back to the pickup location after dropping off the other passenger. Throughout the whole trip, the driver drove to each stop only by checking the names of the stops on her phone. The drivers would get notified via SMS and were given the time and the names of the virtual bus stops. They’d have to memorize the location of each stop and drive accordingly. (There wasn’t a driver app back then. Seems like they still don’t have one.) She said the hardest part of settling into the job was to memorize the locations of each stop.
And, we arrived at my drop-off spot.
To get a transfer discount, I should’ve tapped the card again when dropping off, but didn’t have any following trip planned, so just got out of the van.
Overall, it was a smooth and pleasant experience. The car was clean, the driver was friendly, and the van arrived at the exact location at the exact time.
The driver explained how the riders were satisfied with the ride itself and the whole experience of an on-demand vanpool, instead of the old fixed-route bus. Also, the ridership goes down depending on the weather — when it rains or snows, there isn’t much demand especially given that the passengers are mostly elder.
The ridership has been steadily growing due to the convenience and the affordability. According to a report the ridership grew 140%, from 10,698 in 2020 to 24,456 at 2021. The customer satisfaction scored 4.38 out of 5. The service has expanded to all villages in Sejong-city and introduced new features, including an app for riders.
Meanwhile, the operating cost went down from 579,000won(per day per vehicle) to 388,000won. (Source: link)
“If you look at the operation patterns of other local governments, they are often operated by small businesses or entrusted to the private sector. We are directly promoting the project through Sejong Metropolitan Transportation Corporation. Therefore, we can operate more systematically and respond quickly when a problem is identified. Thanks to this, the sustainability and reliability of the business seems to be increasing.”
Sejong City Transportation Corporation launched the rider app on December 23rd, 2022. They haven’t released any data or reports about the app usage yet, but we can still check out the design and features.
*App download link (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dailybutton.duruta.rider
With a simple design, it only consists of the necessary features. 3 buttons in the main menu screen are: 1) Book a ride, 2) View reservation, 3) Use digital ticket (no idea what this is). In the “Book a ride” screen (4th screenshot), you can see that it shows a list of available times every hour. (11:25 am, 12:25 pm, 1:25 pm, 2:25 pm)
You can also view the stops on the official website: https://duruta.kr/introduce
In the next post, I’ll cover about 💰! The cost to operate the service, and detailed comparison to running a fixed-bus, and the cost to build the app.
Let me know your thoughts on this revolutionary demand-responsive transit service in the comments below!
