Gimcheon City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, responds strictly to suspicions about Gimcheon buses... Promoting public transportation innovation

Gimcheon City promised strict action based on the results of the investigation regarding various suspicions regarding the operation of Gimcheon Bus that were recently raised.

According to the city on the 11th, it announced that it would take strict action against Gimcheon Bus, a city bus company in Gimcheon, regarding various operational suspicions, such as excessive spending on fuel, transactions with related gas stations, and omission of cash receipts, and promote innovation across the entire transportation operation system.

The city's policy is to take all administrative and legal measures, including recovering unjustified amounts and filing additional charges, if illegal or unfair acts are confirmed during the police investigation.

In addition, structural improvements will be made to improve the efficiency of public transportation operations and improve citizen convenience.

We plan to convert 80 existing diesel buses to electric buses early and completely reorganize city bus routes.

We plan to gradually introduce a demand-responsive transportation system (DRT) in transportation-vulnerable areas.

The public transportation operation method will maintain the current private operation system, but will be improved to increase transparency of financial support and management responsibility of transportation companies.

The city estimates that operating buses directly will cost more than three times more than privately operated buses.

An official from Gimcheon City said, “We will create a transportation environment in which citizens can trust and feel safe through strict measures based on the results of the investigation and improvements to the public transportation operating system.”

It was confirmed that the Gimcheon Police Station was aware of suspicions such as embezzlement against the Gimcheon Bus last September, continued an internal investigation, and recently transferred the case to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency.

A police official said, "After becoming aware of the incident, we conducted an investigation before filing the case, and it is difficult to reveal the exact charges at the investigation stage."