Heavy Smog Hits Seoul So Public Transport Becomes Free. This Writer Experienced this in Taiwan, Too

Seoul is a city of dreams for many…

it’s the city of Korean BBQ, kdramas, and also the land where kpop idols are born.

Many (girls) list the city at the top of their bucket list and the more passionate ones may even try to pick up the Korean language on their own.

However, Seoul isn’t always as perfect as she seems.

According to The Straits Times, Seoul has been hit by heavy smog, and it’s so serious, the city waived public transport fees!

This free public transport programme was first implemented in 2017 and re-initiated on Jan 14.

If you’re planning to take advantage of this, then let me tell you this:

It’s too late.

The waiving was only for Wednesday (Jan 17) during peak hours.

Yea I know.

The daily average density of the harmful ultrafine dust was expected to exceed 50 micrograms per cubic metre throughout Jan 17.

FYI, that hit the ‘bad’ level.

If you’re wondering how’s that gonna help the situation, this was not the only solution implemented.

Car usage was limited and parking lots in government buildings were temporarily shut down to discourage citizens from driving.

Still can’t believe this is happening to your dream country?

Well, fret not, this is not Korea’s fault.

The majority of the smog came from China. It is expected to cover Seoul and parts of the midwestern regions, such as the Chungcheong provinces.

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Personal experience

I tried to ask a friend who went to Korea recently but she said that there wasn’t any smog.

Well, bummer.

Just a few weeks ago, I went to Taiwan and encountered the same situation in the southern-city Kaohsiung.

I stopped along 9 cities during my trip and I would say the air in this third-most populous city is really bad.

Similar to Korea, Taiwan is also situated beside China, so perhaps some of the smog originated from there. Besides that, Kaohsiung is also home to many polluting industries.

I took this picture from the lighthouse at Cijin Island, where I can overlook the whole of Cijin and also parts of Kaohsiung.

As you can see, some of the buildings in the back are covered by smog.

The government also came up with something similar to what Seoul did.

Public transport fees were waived for three months, starting from 1 Dec.

The Metro was free daily during 6.30am-8.30am and 4.30pm-6.30pm.

The city buses and circular light rail were free all day.

That’s if you used contactless smartcards for your journey, such as the iPASS and EasyCard.

(By the way, did you know that you can’t top up EasyCard in Kaohsiung Metro stations? You can only do so in convenient stores, but there are no extra charges)

Before heading to Taiwan, I thought that the citizens will most likely be passive about this change, but boy was I wrong.

According to Liberty Times Net, metro passenger flow increased by up to 32% while the increase for bus was more than 10%.

Pretty impressive huh?

I took the metro for five days straights and it’s hard to miss the announcement informing all passengers about this change.

The bus drivers were also very informative and told the passengers when they tapped in.

If you’re heading to Kaohsiung anytime soon, the smog is expected to be very serious, all the way until next month (Feb).

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about a guy who lodged a Police report here in Singapore because he was friendzoned? Seriously. Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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Featured image: The Straits Times