KAIST’s administration purchased two school buses for the sake of the students’ welfare this summer. Proposed by the Dean of Student Affairs, the purchase of the school buses is being orchestrated by the administration department and the undergraduate student council Urinuri.

The school bus project was launched as Dean of Student Affairs Seung Seob Lee came up with the idea of “a bus with the school design on it.” Two buses worth 400 million won are being painted with the KAIST logo and will be out soon. Although the exact date has not been set, students will be able to ride them before the semester ends.

The buses will be mainly used as transportation for students traveling to Seoul during weekends. They will pass by downtown areas including Myeongdong and Jongno for advertisement purposes. The administration is planning to charge students only the minimum expense needed to run the buses. The fare will be much cheaper than that of public buses that travel to Seoul.

The school buses will also be used for other purposes. There is a possibility that they will travel to other major cities such as Busan whenever there is need. Also, they will replace the shuttles that go to Munji and Hwa-am dormitories.

During the summer, Urinuri conducted a survey on the bus design to take opinions from students. The survey in which external companies supplied the possible designs was replaced by a design competition at school because many students disliked the companies’ proposed designs. In the end, a design that characterized KAIST and the students was selected. The winner of the competition was Juhyeon Oh from the Department of Industrial Design.

“The main purpose of having school buses is to encourage students to take pride in KAIST and to promote student welfare. There is a big difference between going home riding on an ordinary bus and a school bus,” said student president Young Chul Kwak. The school bus project could be the start of a new school transportation system. If it receives a favorable response from students, the administration is planning to purchase additional buses.