Seobu Line confirmed as Seoul's LRT top priority

Among the 10+ Light Railway Transit lines considered by Seoul Metropolitan Government last summer, I singled out the Seobu Line / Seobuseon as the logical priority to fill the biggest gap in Seoul subway system (see "Seoul LRT Projects Update (Part 1/2)" - following "If you ain't broke, fix it: Seoul, Welfare and Railways Deficits", and preceding "Seoul LRT Projects Update (Part 2/2)"). It seems that the final recommendations for "Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Master Plan", to be disclosed on October 24*, will confirm this priority.

Reminder: Seoul's LRT plans

Here's a more detailed map zooming on the Seobu Line, including the extention to Seoul National University Station (see my focus for all details regarding the expected stations and scenarii):

Note that:

• After all, Seobu Line could be connected with Subway Line 5 on Yeouido. Maybe my shout out helped...
• Nothing about a potential connection between the future Yonsei U Station and the Sinchon train station. Works have started on Yonsei-ro, Seongsan-ro, and in front of Yonsei University (reminder: "Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix"):
• Until the end of this year, Maeul Bus Line 3 doesn't pass by Yonsei-ro, but draws a larger loop, near Ehwa University.
• The green island created a couple of years ago on Seongsan-ro in front of Severance has been removed, probably to make room for the new major crossroads: since Yonsei-ro is to become car-free, more traffic will come not only to but from Sinchonyeok-ro (and via Yeonhui I.C., further to the West). I really wonder how they'll deal with bottlenecks when a big fish passes away in Severance Hospital.
• Yonsei University seems to be opening a new gate between its soccer and baseball fields, which will relieve foot traffic at the main gate and towards the future LRT station... Bonus: I'll be spared a sweat when I come play soccer on week-ends (right now I have to carry my bike on a small staircase).  
• Mayor PARK Won-soon plans to visit Gwanak-gu this week-end to show his support for a project that happens to be the most profitable both economically and politically... Again, upcoming elections have a lot to do with the revival of a program he lambasted his predecessor for.

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* see among other sources "경전철 서부선 연장" 17일 발표... 민자유치 필요" and "서울 철도 중심시대]서부선 '새절역-서울대입구역'" (Money Today 20131017)

Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix

The project has been in the air for more than a year but it's now official: Yonsei-ro, the street connecting Yonsei University with Sinchon Station, will be the first one in Seoul to ban private cars.

Only bicycles and small public buses will be allowed (not to mention of course emergency vehicles). Taxis will only be allowed between midnight and 4 A.M. Two time slots are opened for business purposes like deliveries (10-11 AM, 3-4 PM), but some adaptations are already considered, and that could turn quickly messy if no clear rules are applied. In any case, the speed limit is reduced to 30 km/h.
 
Some roadwork is planned, in particular to alleviate the usual bottlenecks along Seongsan-ro (for instance, you can tell a V.I.P. has died when there's a huge queue in front of Severance Hospital). And at the southern end of Yonsei-ro, the traffic coming from the Southeast (Baekbeom-ro) will now be able to turn directly to the left towards Seogang Bridge (Seogang-ro) at Sinchon Rotary.

Of course, congestions shall diminish even more spectacularly thanks to the newly resurrected Seobu Line (see "Seoul Light Rapid Transit Back On Tracks" and a focus I was supposed to finish Tuesday on new railway projects - coming up soon!). Reminder: the future line between Eunpyeong-gu and Gwanak-gu will pass by Sinchon Station and create a new station right in front of the university.
 
So good news for pedestrians, cyclists, and more good news for a neighborhood that badly needed some a couple of years ago (see "Sinchon reloaded - Sinchon Global Zone"**). Again, the success of a neighborhood relies a lot on the relevance of its transportation system, and if this Yonsei-ro project will probably require some fine tuning, it marks, combined with the new subway line, a move in the right direction.

Now that Sinchon seems to be regaining momentum, one can envision a more balanced dialog with Hongdae area. 


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* "버스, 자전거만 통행 가능합니다" (Seoul.go.kr 20130801)
** where I also suggested to connect the two "Sinchon Station" (Subway Line 2 and Gyeongui Line), which were less than 500 m apart. This new Yonsei University Station will be twice closer to the train station...

A bump on the road (Ventoux-san)

Saying that Seoul is hilly is a bit like saying that Chicago is windy, but it doesn't show as much as it used to: over the past decades, the city has been carpeted with high rise "apateu" blocks, and hungry caterpilars have bitten off most hilltops.

In many cases, new roads simply cut through the highest hills that used to separate villages nesting on each flank. Picture a hot metal bar lowered on a butter mound: it doesn't cost as much as a tunnel, but leaves disgracious concrete walls on both sides of the road - barren Gaussian curves where the city ceases to exist. Sometimes a bridge connects the former halves of a same neighborhood but only the few people living on the very top use them, and you have to go down at least 500 m on either direction to find a pedestrian crosswalk and risk your life through six lanes of traffic. Final score? Cars 1-0 Humans.

Down in the valleys, you often see much smaller versions of these Gaussian curves (or, on a more poetic note, the bowl hat version of the snake that swallowed an elephant in Saint Exupery's "Le Petit Prince"). And these big bumps on the road can be really annoying when you're a pedestrian: you're on the sidewalk at street level, and suddenly you have to go up and downhill while the road remains flat. For no reason, except of course to reach the few houses remaining at that old street level, as pictured here:



But don't imagine that the guy on the bottom left of this drawing can reach the door on the bottom right without passing by the guy on the top of the hill. That would be too easy. Most of the time, local planners considered that one sidewalk was enough. After all, for many of them, cars seem to be the most important beings in the city.

Every week-end, I ride my bicycle to Yonsei University where I play soccer... or rather a sport that vaguely ressembles soccer when I'm on a good day. From Yeonhui-dong, I have no choice but to use the Northern sidewalk along Seongsan-ro. And if I survive the dangerous entrance to Dongseo Oriental Hospital (see "medical tourism"), I have to face not one but two of those bumps before reaching the stadium.

The second bump is no biggie (even if elder citizens would not agree with the statement): its highest point must reach about 2.5 m over street level. Furthermore, the elevation makes possible the connection between a minor tributary and main street, and fluidifies both foot and car traffic. But the first bump... that mean, steep, 75 m long nightmare shouldn't even exist anymore.

The houses that used to top the hill have merged into a big building which can only be reached from a back street, and the whole thing was elevated even higher, protected by a plain wall without any opening. So basically, to get from the door to the bottom left to the door to the bottom right, you have to go up a very abrupt and absurd hill that leads to nowhere:



If I've climbed much steeper slopes in Seoul, this one makes me very very angry. Granted, it gives me a perfect alibi for my poor performance later at Yonsei, but I'm sure everybody in the area would love to see it disappear.

Of course, the obvious thing to do would be to get rid of the hill altogether and to prolong the mansion's walls to street level. That wouldn't cost much, and would change the lives of many citizens.

So last year, when I saw a group of workers studying the hill, I thought that, at long last, change was coming.

All they did was to put a metal handrail along the mansion wall.

Yes they can.

I'm sure Seodaemun citizens felt offended and said something because a few months later, more workers came. That's it, I thought, they're really going to fix it.

They erected a staircase on both sides of the hill. More concrete, yeah!

And to sign their masterpiece, they've just put a brand new layer of asphalt. A cherry on an unedible cake.

Here's the new and improved mess, complete with its railing, staircases, and asphalt:

How much for these three brilliant interventions? For the same price, I bet they could have sliced at least half of the monster, and that would have made a lot more difference.

I can't wait for the next touch: a marquee to protect sweating bikers from the baking sun during their ascent of Seoul's Mont Ventoux?

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Busan Corner on Taxi-daero

Each time I ride my bicycle from Yeonhui-dong to Hongdae, I follow the same Yeonhuimat-ro / Donggyo-ro line. And each time, I make a couple of mental notes along the way: I must come back for this and that eatery, I haven't visited them in a long time.


The first section is called Yeonhui's street of flavors (Yeonhuimat-ro, formerly Yeonhuimat-gil) for a reason: people come from far away for the food, even for a dish as simple as Yeonhui-dong Kalguksu.


The second section is far less inviting: basically an apartment block (Imgwang Apartment) stuck between two disgracious elevated infrastructures (Seongsan-ro and the Gyeongui Line). But even there you can find a couple of restaurants.


The next stretch is a paradise for authentic Chinese cuisine lovers (see for instance Hong Bok or Ha Ha). That's also where you'll find the very Chinese-friendly Yeonhui-Yeonnam Global Village (Seoul Global Center).


Further afield, Donggyo-ro shifts by 45 degree from Southwest to South, until it reaches the new park. I knicknamed that 100% restaurant section "Taxi-daero" because both sides of the street are always fully packed with diagonally parked cabs (a good sign if you believe in Word Of Mouthwatering, that Great Tradition among Taxi Drivers).


Soon after the park, Donggyo-ro meets with Yeonnam-ro and takes you to Hongik University Station and Seogyo-dong, drawing a big smile north of Yanghwa-ro (there again, countless places to take a snack, including Charles Sutbul Gimbap).


I've already mentioned this new park, a potential game-changer for a neighborhood that badly needed one. Bonus: the best configuration possible for cafes and terraces. They only reopened the section between Donggyo-ro and Yanghwa-ro, but right now, this 30 meter wide band covering the AREX looks very promising, even if Mapo-gu didn't invest a lot in the trees, rather rachitic. Speculators have started raiding the spot a couple of years ago, and many buildings have already being remodeled. I sincerely hope they won't let them grow taller than 2-3 levels because that would totally ruin the area, as is already the case for the section North of Donggyo-ro (on this picture, along Kolon Apartment):

I'm also worried about Taxi-daero because if this neighborhood becomes too successful, more shops shall move from Hongdae, and I wouldn't want the place to look like yet another Garosu-gil.

What I fear most is the disparition of unspectacular landmarks that make this place so special and particularly Busan Corner, a delicious and cute eatery ideally located at the Southernmost end of Taxi-daero, with a view on the garden, or rather on this catwalk for anorexic plants. The owner is a very kind lady from Busan, who cooks simple and delicious local snacks (부산먹거리) for a song:


Bibim dangmyeon (비빔당면)

Homemade odeng soup (수제오뎅탕)

Busan Gimbap (부산김밥)

Busan Corner  / 부산코너 (snacks)
At the corner of Donggyo-ro and AREX park, Mapo-gu
Tel +82.322.9242

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* Note that the garden will continue on the other side of Yanghwa-ro, but for the moment that's just a barricaded working site from which only the new AREX exit emerge. When they connected the Incheon-Gimpo Airport line to Hongdae station they changed the numbering system for all subway exits, and I once sent by mistake a friend to that no man's land - not the best first impression for Hongik University area.