The Presidential Office is moving to introduce staggered commuting hours in the public sector to ease energy supply concerns stemming from the Middle East conflict and alleviate overcrowding on public transportation. The government plans to establish a cross-ministry joint response system to pursue policies aimed at distributing transportation demand.
Jeon Eun-su, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, said at a briefing on the 3rd, "International oil prices have risen sharply recently, causing a surge in citizens switching from private cars to public transit." Jeon added, "To distribute demand during rush hours, an emergency meeting of relevant ministries was held the previous day, chaired by the Senior Secretary for Economic Growth, and a decision was made to introduce staggered commuting hours on a phased basis."
"A consensus was formed among ministries that measures are needed to manage public transit overcrowding while ensuring citizens can travel safely," Jeon said. "Demand distribution policies must be pursued more actively to reduce private car usage." Jeon continued, "The rush-hour congestion relief measures will be led by the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and pursued through a joint system involving the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Work on building a system for these measures has begun."
The government also decided to introduce a "smart system" to strengthen time-based demand distribution policies. The plan calls for flexibly adjusting time slots and discount rates, and providing additional incentives to citizens who use public transit outside peak hours to encourage voluntary redistribution of ridership.
"We discussed providing additional incentives to citizens who use public transit outside congested hours, expanding staggered commuting hours starting with the public sector to physically distribute traffic more evenly, and other effective support measures such as using flexible work arrangements as a model," Jeon said. "As this is operated on a cross-ministry basis, we will eliminate inter-ministry silos and mount a full-scale response, including citizen safety management. We will do our utmost to ease the transportation cost burden and ensure all citizens can commute with peace of mind."
Meanwhile, a Presidential Office official cautioned against overinterpretation, saying, "We are not considering restrictions on free public transit rides for senior citizens, which had been a subject of controversy."