Conflict Studies

The 1970s

In April 1971, construction began on Seoul Subway Line 1 with a goal of its opening in August 1974. This line ran from Seoul Station through City Hall and Cheogno to Cheongyangni. It was designed to prepare the beginning of the urban railway era by electrifying railways of the Seoul metropolitan area. In 1978, the transformation in the field of competitive transport bus service began to occur in order to hedge against the rise of urban railway as a competitive transport means. From 1973, the existing bus system changed, while urban buses appeared. In 1974, as major changes occurred in the bus transport, transport administration grew increasingly complex, while urban buses were divided into standing buses and seated buses with the fare and route systems being differentiated.

In the 1970s, when the buses had reigned as the “flower of civil transport,”

policies for the bus also changed in various ways. As part of this, while the city was replacing old vehicles, it painted city buses in a consistent way.

Urban buses were painted light blue with a beige stripe, while standing buses had a dark blue stripe and seat buses had an orange stripe. In 1978, the bus fare was 50 KRW for adults and 35 KRW for students. Buses in the 1970’s were described as packed like sardines; many people with no personal space. In spite of this evaluation, many positive memories exist as the buses were in the public limelight during this decade. The following memories are typical figures of the 1970s: bus attendants hanging on bus doors that were not closed tightly, passengers rolling side to side as the bus moved, and bus drivers operating jam-packed buses.

Figure 2.34 City buses made in 1971 (left) and in 1974 (right)

CHapter 01

ChAPT

3

Conflict Studies

The 1970s

In April 1971, construction began on Seoul Subway Line 1 with a goal of its opening in August 1974. This line ran from Seoul Station through City Hall and Cheogno to Cheongyangni. It was designed to prepare the beginning of the urban railway era by electrifying railways of the Seoul metropolitan area. In 1978, the transformation in the field of competitive transport bus service began to occur in order to hedge against the rise of urban railway as a competitive transport means. From 1973, the existing bus system changed, while urban buses appeared. In 1974, as major changes occurred in the bus transport, transport administration grew increasingly complex, while urban buses were divided into standing buses and seated buses with the fare and route systems being differentiated.

In the 1970s, when the buses had reigned as the “flower of civil transport,”

policies for the bus also changed in various ways. As part of this, while the city was replacing old vehicles, it painted city buses in a consistent way.

Urban buses were painted light blue with a beige stripe, while standing buses had a dark blue stripe and seat buses had an orange stripe. In 1978, the bus fare was 50 KRW for adults and 35 KRW for students. Buses in the 1970’s were described as packed like sardines; many people with no personal space. In spite of this evaluation, many positive memories exist as the buses were in the public limelight during this decade. The following memories are typical figures of the 1970s: bus attendants hanging on bus doors that were not closed tightly, passengers rolling side to side as the bus moved, and bus drivers operating jam-packed buses.

Figure 2.34 City buses made in 1971 (left) and in 1974 (right)

Stephenson and Pops claimed that processes of negotiations and discussions in a decision-making process create social phenomena worth of research, regardless of the results that they will bring about (Stephenson & Pops, 1990). From this point of view, the promotion processes of the Seoul bus reform that are evaluated as having passed through a process of participatory discussions also can be seen to have created a variety of social phenomena worthy of research.

One of the main reasons why the need for conflict study has been raised in relation to the bus reform is the high level of interest in the success of it.

Aside from the reforms social necessity, many stakeholders were intertwined in complex ways and yet were able to come to an agreement.

In particular, whereas most bus reforms ended in failure, this recently promoted bus reform succeeded in achieving the expected goals in many ways. The satisfaction of both the stakeholders and the public led to a high level of interest⁵⁾ at home and abroad concerning what factors helped resolve the various conflicts raised during the reform.

Thus, this study can provide many suggestions to manage a variety of conflicts that may appear in future urban management.

This study will focus on the following aspects. First, the current trend of general theories about conflicts and conflict management strategies are collected and analyzed against various conflict cases that appeared in the reorganization of the Seoul bus operating system. Through the collection and

CHapter 03 analysis of the conflict cases one is able to discover the reasons why conflict

emerged in the process of the bus reform.

Through the conflict cases that developed in the process of the reform we will consider the conflict management strategies Seoul Metropolitan Government performed in order to solve the various conflicts. Seoul’s view of conflicts will be examined through an analysis of conflict management strategy clarifying their strategy of conflict resolution. Finally, potential conflicts that might be generated in future urban management are presented through the presentation of a conflict management model with guidance on the direction to minimize conflicts that arise.