Traveler Apps 2: SeoulBus
Compared to subway (지하철), Bus in Seoul has several good points. First, bus has many more routes compared to Subway, and therefore we have more choices to go from one place to another. Secondly, shorter walking distance. Normally to go to Subway station we have to either take a walk for quite a long distance or to take a bus to get there, while in taking bus, walking time and distance is much shorter. Moreover, bus gives better view for sightseeing, because traveling in a bus will make us go around the city ‘above the ground’ and seeing famous places, while subway (just like its name) is mostly underground and there are no many things to see but other people. Another point to think about is that bus provides more chance for people to sit compared to subway in Seoul. As many more people prefer subway, that public transportation is always full, leaving the bus (except at certain time) has more empty space. Therefore I come to an opinion that bus is more convenient for short-distance travel and to remote areas where there are no subway going there.
Enough talking about bus. So, what is the good things about application named SeoulBus?
1. Getting to Know the Route/Map of Certain Bus
With the help of SeoulBus, we can get the information of places being passed by by the bus. Using such information, we can expect what to see or to explore on the bus. What we need to do is just typing the name/number of the bus on provided space and then the information about such bus will come out on the screen, right in front of our eyes.
Search Bus
For example, by taking Bus 5516, one may expect to travel around Seoul National University, because the bus comes to the main gate, then goes around the university and gets out from the main entrance again. One does not need to spend 2 hours walking around that located-at-hill giant university. Taking 5516 would be just enough. The map shows each and every bus stop where the bus (in this case 5516 stops), by map-point on the map. Clicking one of the bus stop will tell us the name and ID number of such bus stop, and if we click again, it will show us the list of buses that passing by that bus stop.
Map of Bus’ Route
2. Available Bus on Certain Bus Station
Another great feature of this application is that we can search the bus that are going to certain bus stops. The application provides us with two options, either searching by the name or the ID of the bus stop. After a few seconds, the list of buses that are going through that particular bus station will be written down. We then have the choice to pick up the bus that we one. Of course the one that will bring us to the place we want to go. Normally there will be more than one buses on each bus stop.
Not only showing what buses are passing through the bus stop, the app also gives us information about the arrival time of those buses in bus station we are searching for. Even it might not be correct up to the second scale, normally the minute part is correct. The data is real time so it will change accordingly.
Available Bus on Certain Bus Stop
3. Find out Closest Bus Station
If we are not familiar with the place we are staying or we are looking for, we might have problem finding out the bus stop. Don’t worry, this application also provides us with information about the closest local bus stops to our place. We just need to turn on our GPS and the application will search the nearest bus stops from our place. We can then do what I’ve suggested in point 1, in order to find out the buses that passing by that bus stops and the arrival of particular buses. By clicking “showing map” at the bottom part of the application, we can see where we are and how close we are from the bus stop.
Nearby Bus Stop
4. Current Position of Buses
I also find it is interesting that the application also shows up the current location of each bus in real time base. By knowing this, not only knowing how long the bus will arrive, but we can also predict how long the NEXT bus will arrive. It is somehow helpful if the current bus is fully packed with people, or if we need to grab some drink from local mini market before departing or if we have to go to bathroom for urgent matter.
Real-Time Bus Location
Those are some information and my review related to SeoulBus application. I hope it will be quite helpful for those who want to travel around Seoul by Bus or by exchanging buses and subways. Have a great time in Seoul.