Cheong Wa Dae seeks to encourage public transportation use in off-peak hours

Cheong Wa Dae said Friday it seeks to encourage people to voluntarily use public transportation during off-peak hours by giving them incentives as part of measures to respond to unstable energy supply stemming from the Middle East crisis. "As oil prices are sharply rising, the number of people who are using public transportation is rapidly increasing," Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Jeon Eun-su said in a press briefing, adding that an emergency response meeting took place Thursday to discuss ways to disperse demand for public transportation during rush hours. "Flexible commuting hours will be preemptively introduced in the public sector," Jeon said, adding the government will review expanding such a policy to the private sector. The government will make "all-out" efforts for safety management through interagency cooperation, she said, noting that the transportation ministry will lead an initiative to build a "smart system" to establish various scenario-based traffic policies. The government raised its resource security crisis warning by one notch to Level 3 on Thursday, citing potential disruptions in crude oil supply as the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, is effectively closed amid the U.S. war on Iran. President Lee Jae Myung has also called on the government to prepare traffic control measures during commuting hours as part of energy-saving steps amid the war in the Middle East. mlee@yna.co.kr (END)