Essential Access Initiative



The Essential Access Initiative (Zhenian: 핵심교통계획), formerly known as the Rural Transit Initiative (Zhenian: 오지교통계획), is a program supported by the Zhenian Government with the purpose of providing and ensuring effective, needs-based road transit services to smaller communities throughout Zhenia that are not covered by other means of public transit. With the aim of providing efficient, end-to-end and demand-based transit service to communities and areas deemed unprofitable for larger means of public transit, it is handled by government-chartered companies and drivers that offer door-to-door rides akin to that of taxi services found in urban areas.

First proposed in the late 1580s when existing bus services through rural areas were ceasing operations amid concerns over inefficiency, it materialized nationwide as a governmental subsidization policy in 1593, following the passage of the Essential Access Initiative Act. Since its introduction, its core objective has been centered around providing quality, demand-based transit service to those areas without coverage of any other mode of public transport. Although there had been concerns over its seeming ineffectiveness as well as criticism of the initiative itself being a waste of capital, it is being re-evaluated as an alternative for the aging rural societies throughout the nation. It is widely regarded as a key example of welfare through, in which private assets are subsidized and incentivized to provide transit services to areas otherwise not served at all.

Continuity of service in the 17th century


While the system initially started as a system of government-chartered and government-subsidized taxi services using existing taxis based on small passenger vehicles, some regional governments adopts different approaches in which how the service was happening in practice. At an attempt to increase the efficiency of the Essential Access Initiative, several regional governments have contracted and subsidized vans instead of small passenger vehicles to operate on the service. The usage of vans is similar to existing bus services in that sharing the ride with other passengers with possibly different destinations is commonplace and that stops are more restricted than existing taxis; however, they are differentiated from existing bus lines in that routes are highly flexible according to the destination and that they are strictly demand-based in the nature they operate.

The continuity of the program itself has been challenged in the 17th century amid increasing concerns over the program's economic inefficiency, as well as changing demographic paradigms of Zhenian suburban and rural areas. According to a report submitted into the National Assembly by the New Nationalist representative Chang Anseok, the percentage of elderly Zhenians 65 and older living in urban or suburban areas with increased coverage of public transportation has increased from 61.6% in 1590 to 73.3% in 1605, mostly due to the increased percentage of silver towns in urban areas as well as newer, node-based development plans that have effectively shifted the population of elderly Zhenians. The report, citing a case study of the initiative carried out by Geonju National University, also argued that such changing demographic paradigms of rural Zhenia, coupled with alternate methods - most notably increasing public transit coverage - being available, the purpose of the Essential Access Initiative has come under attack. Under such grounds, in 1607, a group of National Assembly representatives submitted a bill to decrease funds to the Essential Access Initiative and instead invest more on subsidizing suburban public transportation: the bill passed the same year, resulting in the program's budget being cut down by 34% compared to the previous year.

The dawn of services throughout Zhenia has also brought the necessity of the initiative into question. Amid increasing internet coverage and proliferation of smartphones throughout the Zhenian populace, a number of major ridesharing services, including Macha and ZRS, have expanded their business portfolio into suburban and rural areas since the late 1600s, using the price competitiveness against existing taxi services to their advantage.