Night owl bus: An ict-supported public transport option for night time workers and the young in seoul, south korea

In response to complaints received through an e-governance channel, Seoul launched a set of late night bus services. It is comprised of 9 routes, much smaller than the daytime bus services, but capably covering the hotspots of nighttime travel demand for the city’s residents. From the estimation of travel demand to the design and optimization of bus routes, much of the planning for this special bus service was done using individual location data from mobile phones. It was part of the city’s initiative to apply big data analytics to urban management. Nighttime workers and the young population now have an affordable, safe, and reliable means of transportation during the late night hours, which was previously lacking. The 24-hour city saw growth in nighttime economic activities along the bus routes and high satsifaction among users.