No.164 / Jun 12, 2023
Since March 2023, Ajou University’s school bus route has been changed from operating various metropolitan routes using four direct buses and six rental buses. The school bus schedule, which ran until the second semester of 2022, shows that there were a total of eight school buses. The buses ran on six paid routes, namely, Mok-dong, Jamsil, Sadang Station, Bundang, Geumjeong, and Ansan, and two free routes, namely, Suwon Station and Gwanggyo Station. The routes that could be used at the time of leaving school were Suwon Station and Gwanggyo Jungang Station, and other routes had no buses to leave school.
However, on February 23, 2023, the general affairs team announced that only two routes, Suwon Station and Gwanggyo Jungang Station, will be operated from 2023, as the number of school bus users has decreased significantly every year. Moreover, some of the expenses saved by the abolition of the route will be converted into student welfare and student event expenses and used for projects to promote student convenience. In addition, the school made this decision owing to losses incurred in relation to the cost of running the full service. The decision is believed to have been made because about 90% of the cost of running a school bus was in the red.
With the abolition of six paid routes, people who used the now-abolished routes have no choice but to use public transportation networks such as subways and wide-area buses for commuting. Various inconveniences have since been raised among Ajou University students, such as, “It is so inconvenient that I have no choice but to go back and forth between Suwon Station several times a day” and “I hope the school bus route in Seoul will be operated again,” while others maintain that “Since many people did not use it, it could have been eliminated considering the cost problem.” As announced by the general affairs team, The Ajou Globe (The AG) hopes that the budget investment for practical student welfare to be visible.
By Kim Yun-a, AG Cub Reporter
rladbsdk0306@ajou.ac.kr
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