Residents, bus drivers protest Seoul's 'Compact City' project

City buses are parked at a transit center in Gangil-dong, Seoul's Gangdong District in this photo taken in October, 2021. Newsis

Seoul City claims it's working with residents

By Ko Dong-hwan

Citing potential safety risks, residents and employees of public transit bus operators are protesting against Seoul City Government's ongoing urban development project to build apartment buildings atop underground public facilities.

The project, called "Compact City," is in progress in five different locations in Seoul: two public bus transit centers in Gangdong District and Songpa District, a rain water pump station in Eunpyeong District, an empty city space next to an elevated expressway in Seodaemun District, and a section above a highway connecting the city's northern region in Jungnang District. Local protestors have in particular expressed concerns about the city government's push to move public bus transit centers in the Gangil-dong and Jangji-dong areas underground.

The projects at the Gangil-dong and Jangji-dong locations involve plans to move the existing bus transit centers ― used by hundreds of buses ― underground and build apartment buildings on top of the space. The apartment buildings at each location will house some 1,200 housing units.

The projects, however, have triggered concerns that moving the bus transit centers underground might increase the severity of possible explosions caused by the vehicles in the underground spaces, as many of them run on compressed natural gas (CNG) and electricity.

Outside an office building on the public bus transit center site in Gangil-dong, which is used by five bus companies, hangs a giant poster made by their employees, which reads, "An underground depot will kill us all with explosions."

The Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH), which is run by the city, says it plans to start the Gangil underground depot project in December of this year.

Workers at the bus companies said that the new Gangil underground depot will be supported by "piloti" or stilts that lift a structure above the ground, which they claim will impede the buses from moving in the space freely and force them to have to drive between the pillars. (There are no piloti in the existing ground-level bus transit center.) They are also worried that the proposed enclosed space underground used by many buses will have poor air quality.

Local residents around the Gangil underground bus depot project are also wary, as they argue CNG and electricity charging stations in the new underground space will threaten the area's safety. There are large-scale apartment complexes right across the street from the existing bus transit center, and the residents worry any possible explosion or fire in the proposed new underground depot will affect their personal safety.

An aerial rendering of the new underground public bus transit center with apartment buildings on top of it in Gangil-dong / Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government

"In addition to the safety risks, the new apartment buildings to be built up to 20 stories high on top of the underground bus transit center will completely block other residents in the area from getting any sunlight," Han Jin-seop, who represents the residents of one of the two apartment complexes flanking the existing public bus transit center in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, told The Korea Times. The existing apartment complexes are comprised of buildings no higher than 15 stories. "The new apartments will also block sunlight from reaching the solar panels we plan to install on top of our apartment buildings."

Han said the renovated public bus transit center and new apartment buildings will also significantly increase the volume of vehicles in the area and worsen traffic jams as the center has only one entrance. Han collected petitions against Compact City project in Gangil-dong from residents at the two apartment complexes and submitted them to the Seoul Metropolitan Council last year.

"SH, after the Gangil-dong residents petitioned to the city government, has employed two agencies to run tests on the existing Gangil public bus transit center to study how the renovated underground center should be designed for bus drivers to operate flawlessly as well as not be vulnerable to explosions or fires," Kim Jeong-sung, a senior official at the Gangil public bus transit center, said. "The tests began earlier this month and their results will come out in November."

However, Kim is worried that the tests might not be conducted fairly, as the city government is pushing aggressively ahead with the project and the agencies conducting them will be influenced by the city.

"SH hired the Seoul Institute (a research institute under the city government) to run the test to study how the new bus transit center should be designed for bus drivers. But I doubt the test will be fair because the institute operates under the city government and the test results will probably be predetermined in favor of the city."

Workers at the Jangji-dong public bus transit center were deeply concerned with the Compact City plan as well. More than 500 buses use the Jangji public bus transit center in Songpa District in southern Seoul. SH has launched feasibility tests to move the center underground there as well, the results of which will also come out in November.

"They say they will build apartments, parks and other convenience facilities on top of the new underground bus transit center, but they are essentially burying explosive elements underground and erecting apartments on top of them," Lee Hee-kyung, a senior maintenance officer at Seoul Bus, one of the three bus operators using the Jangji public bus transit center, said. He was particularly worried about how dangerous an electric bus explosion could be, describing it as 10 times more dangerous than buses running on other fuels. "Such an explosion, if it were to happen, would not only endanger the employees of the bus companies, but also the residents living above."

This section rendering of the proposed underground Gangil public bus transit center shows buses parked underneath a park and new apartment buildings. Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government

Lee said the city government is refusing to give up on the Compact City project, despite the local protests, because they want to "test the idea" by putting it into practice while trying to make sure the local protesters are the least informed about the potential risks of safety accidents most likely to happen in the new underground bus transit center.

"If one of those hundreds of parked buses at the garage catches fire underground, the result will be out of control," said Lee. "Burning tires are also very hard to extinguish, and burning electric batteries cannot even be put out by firefighters. Although we have raised these life-threatening risks with SH, they haven't been very responsive to our voices."

As locals file petitions, Seoul city gov't responds

The Seoul City Government, however, said that they have been communicating with local residents and the union representing the public bus transit center workers about the explosion risks and sunlight blockage issue affecting nearby apartment complexes since the project's plan was introduced to the public in 2019.

"We have been updating Compact City's plans along the way to adjust to local people's demands and the site's necessities," Song Dong-wook, an official from Public Housing Division under the city government's Housing Policy Office, said. "We see the ongoing protests as part of the project's process, which we should take into account."

The conditions of the structures and facilities of the existing public bus transit centers in the Gangil and Jangji areas are dilapidated, according to Song. The project will modernize the sites' facilities and safety features. The renovated underground transit centers will also be partially open to outside air instead of being completely enclosed underground.

"We know the locals and bus operators are now concerned about safety risks. So we are trying to make the transit centers as safe as possible by modernizing the facilities," Song said.

Gangil residents' petitions to the Seoul Metropolitan Council were accepted by its City Planning Management Committee, as well as the National Assembly on April 15, according to City Council Rep. Lee Jun-hyung. That legally requires SH to proceed with the Compact City plan only after it explains the project to the residents and earns their consent.

"The National Assembly agreed that the project's priority is the renewal of the public bus transit center, not the construction of new apartments," Rep. Lee, whose constituency is in Gangdong, told the Times. "The lawmakers also acknowledged that local residents' complaints haven't been faithfully taken into account (by the city government and SH). So their petitions eventually went through the National Assembly."

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