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On the 8th, when the Chuseok ticket reservations began, the Seoul station ticket office was busy. To prevent corona spread, KORAIL has only reserved 50% of the window seats. Tickets not paid before the 13th will be automatically canceled. [이충우 기자]The number of tickets sold on the first day of booking Chuseok train tickets was found to be only half that of last year.
Considering the spread of Corona 19, the number of cases where the Korean Railroad (KORAIL) has only given up window seats is interpreted to have given up on returning home during the Chuseok holiday as per social distancing policy of the government. Also, the demand to use private vehicles instead of public transport like trains seems to have had some influence.
KORAIL announced that as a result of the ‘2020 Chuseok Ticket Reservation’ for 9 routes, including the Gyeongbu Line, 263,000 of the total 500,000 seats supplied were sold, the reservation rate recorded 52.6%. This is 55% of the 470,000 seats last year. Although the supply of seats has been reduced, the fact that the reservation fee was only half was influenced by the government’s recommendation to refrain from moving to Chuseok, the Korean Railway said.
Of those online, PC launched at 31.0% and mobile at 69.0%. The reservation rate for the Gyeongbu line was 54.7%, the return train reservation rate was 52.2%, and the Gwigyeong line was 57.2%. For the return train, the booking rate was the highest at 99.2% on September 30 and the highest on October 4 at 89.9%.
On this day, there was a temporary delay in access from 7 am, start of the reservation. However, citizens responded that access was generally smooth during the reservation time that lasted until 1 pm.
As it was carried out only online, such as PCs and mobile phones, the discomfort of the elderly who were not good at information technology (IT) devices was inevitable. On day 1, the Korean Railway made advance reservations for seniors and disabled people over 65 years of age. We also receive telephone reservations for the first 1,000 people. As a result of the reservation, 31,000 of the 199,000 seats offered were sold, registering a reservation rate of 15.7%. An older person who made a reservation over the phone said: “It is cumbersome and inconvenient to have to go back to the station to get a ticket.”
Meanwhile, on the 9th, reservations will be made for the Honam, Jeolla, Gangneung, Janghang, Jungang, Taebaek, Yeongdong and Gyeongchun lines. A Korea Railroad official said: “You must pay for the Chuseok tickets you have purchased before midnight on the 13th.”
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