Busan Subway

Infobox Korean name
title=Busan Subway


hangul=부산 지하철
hanja=釜山地下鐵
rr=busan jihacheol
mr=pusan chihach'ǒl|The Busan Subway, operated by the Busan Transportation Corporation, is the subway system of Busan, South Korea. The subway network first opened in 1985 with seventeen stations. Since the opening of its last expansion in November 2005 it consists of 3 lines, 86 stations, and 89.9 km of tracks. Extensions on Line 2 and Line 3 are currently under construction and are expected to be completed by 2012. Once finished, the entire system will include 105 stations and 112.4 km of tracks.

All directional signs on the Busan Subway are written in both Korean and English, and the voice announcement in the trains indicating the upcoming station, possible line transfer and exiting side are all said in Korean, followed by English. Announcements at stations for arriving trains are in Korean, followed by English, then Japanese and Mandarin Chinese.

Ride Fares and Subway Pass

A single ride fare (as of May 2008) is 1100 won for a destination within less than 10 km and 1300 won for any other destinations. Tickets are sold at "Ticket Vending Machines". Usually one machine per set will accept 1000 won notes while the others only take coins. Tickets should be kept since they are required to leave the station once reaching destination, and getting caught "jumping the gate" will result in a hefty fine.

The use of a subway pass, either a Hanaro Card (하나로카드) or a Digital Busan Card (디지털부산카드) will offer a fare discount of 10% to adults and 20% to youth of 13-18 of age. Both the "Hanaro" and the "Digital Busan" cards, are available in either card format or a more compact, yet slightly more expensive cell phone accessory format. The passes are equipped with a microchip and are scanned by laying them against sensor plates at the entrance and exit of stations. This makes them more efficient than magnetic stripe cards since they can be detected through a wallet or purse. Hanaro Cards are for sale at all stations for 2000 won. All type of passes can have credit added to them in any station at the "Automatic Charge Machine" (교통카드 자동 보충기); the instructions are available in both English and Korean. The passes can also be used to pay for bus fares and for purchases on specially equipped vending machines throughout the city.

Line 1 (Orange Line)

Line 1 (1호선) is the north-south route. It is, as of 2008, 32.5 km long with 34 stations. Line 1 uses 8-car trains, with 45 currently in total. There are no current plans to extend Line 1.

Plans for this line were made in 1979. Two years later, in 1981, construction began on the first phase, between Nopo-Dong and Beomnaegol, which was finished in July 1985. This stretch was 16.2 km long. Further extensions continued southward, with a 5.4 km extension from Beomnaegol to Jungang-dong opened in May 1987, a 4.5 km extension to Seodaeshin-dong in February 1990, and a 6.4 km extension to Shinpyeong in June 1994. The total construction cost was 975.1 billion won.

Line 2 (Green Line)

Line 2 (2호선) crosses Busan from east to west, running along the shores of Haeundae and Gwanganli, and then north toward Yangsan. As of 2005, the line is 39.1 km long with 39 stations. The line uses 28 vehicles, each one having six cars.

Although construction on the first section began in 1991, a 22.4 km route, with 21 stations between Hopo and Seomyeon; it was not opened until June 30, 1999. With Phase 2, the line was extended 8.7 km southeast from Seomyeon to Geumnyeonsan on August 8, 2001. It was extended 0.9 km north to Gwangan on January 16, 2002, and finally, on August 29, 2002, it was extended 8 km east to Jangsan.

Phase 3, started in 1998, is extending Line 2 north from Hopo to the Bukjeong area in Yangsan, adding another 11.3 km and 7 stations. The construction is expected to by finished by 2012.

The finished line's estimated cost is 2934.5 billion won. It will have a total of 46 stations and be 50.4 km long.

Hours of Operation

The hours of operation of Line 2 (as of 2008) start with the first trains leaving the stations of Jangsan, Gwangan and Jeonpo at 5:20, all bound for Hopo, and leaving the stations of Hopo and Jeonpo at 5:15, both bound for Jangsan. It ends with the last trains from Jangsan arriving in Jeonpo at 00:18 and Hopo at 00:45, and the last trains from Hopo arriving in Jeonpo at 00:21 and Jangsan at 00:38. A ride through the entire line takes about 1 hour 15 minutes.

List of Stations

Lost and Found

The "Lost and Found" office is located on the Line 1 platform in Seomyeon Station. It is open during daytime on weekdays and in morning on Saturdays. Unclaimed items are kept for 7 days before being handed to the police.

DMB Service

On May 25 2006, TU Media started to serve the entire subway network with S-DMB service. The current S-DMB transmission allow subscriber to receive television and radio reception on hand-held device such as cell-phone. With an investment of 11 billion won TU Media installed 530 signal emitters to provide seamless reception in the entire underground system. [http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=46786]

ee also

* Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit
* List of rapid transit systems

External links

* [http://www.subway.busan.kr/english/main/ Busan Transportation Corporation] homepage en icon
* [http://www.subway.busan.kr/ Busan Transportation Corporation] homepage ko icon
* [http://urbanrail.net/as/busa/busan.htm UrbanRail: Busan] subway map
* [http://www.hikorea.info Subway transferring information for South Korea (English, Japanese, Korean)]

References

* [http://www.subway.busan.kr/?page=construction/plan 부산교통공사 지하철 건설계획] , Busan Transportation Corporation: Subway Construction Project (in Korean)