Vehicle traffic and public transport ridership in Seoul inched up in the second week of March despite campaigns to continue with social distancing to contain the novel coronavirus.

According to the Seoul City government, nearly 3.75 million people took the subway, and 3.87 million took buses on daily average between March 9 and 12, up from 3.67 million and 3.81 million, respectively, between March 2 and 6.

Private vehicle traffic recorded close to 5.83 million units on daily average in March 9-12, up from 5.82 million in March 2-6.

Public transport and private vehicle traffic had dropped sharply since the COVID-19 outbreak, especially after the government raised the infectious disease alert level to “serious” on Feb. 23.

Between Jan. 1 and 19, before Korea reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, a daily average of 5.81 million people used the subway, 5.62 million took buses and 6.27 million private vehicles were on the roads in Seoul.

The figures tumbled to 5.14 million on the subway, 5.12 million on buses, and 6.07 million private vehicles on daily average between Feb. 17 and 21.

After the virus alert level was raised to the highest in the four-tier system, the average daily traffic plunged to 3.93 million on the subway, 3.96 on buses and 5.8 million vehicles between Feb. 24 and 28.

Compared to the pre-COVID-19 figures in Jan. 1-19, the average daily number of people using public transport in Seoul fell by 10.2 percent in Feb. 17-21; by 30.9 percent in Feb. 24-28; by 34.5 percent in March 2-6; and by 33.3 percent in March 9-12.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)