Ivy Marine Tourism Co., Ltd., the operator of the amphibious tour bus business in Busan, announced that it will start the tour bus pilot operation in the Suyeong River area at the end of this year and will officially start operation around April next year.

Busan’s amphibious tour bus starts from APEC Naru Park in Centum City and tours the Suyeong River area through land attractions such as the Busan Cinema Center, BEXCO, Gwangan Bridge Gwangalli Beach, Millak, and the Suyeong Bridge.

At the entrance to the road, they also plan to create a unique space with the theme of masterpieces that will harmonize with the outdoor art installations of APEC Naru Park.

It has a land distance of 17 km and a water distance of 4 km, and a total of five vehicles will be deployed. Two buses are manufactured by CAMI in the US, and three by a domestic company.

Currently, the process related to the construction of the tour bus access road is in progress. The construction cost is 6.2 billion won, which Ivy Marine Tourism will pay in full, and will be donated under the condition of free use for 20 years.

“The schedule was delayed by about a year due to the large-scale spread of COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war at the beginning of the project,” an official from Ivy Marine Tourism said.

The city is considering introducing marine taxis and buses as part of the development of marine tourism contents. The sea taxi service is operated by three regions: the original downtown (center of Jagalchi), the east route (centered on Suyeong Bay), and the west route (centered on Jangnim Port).

The size of the taxi is expected to float 4 to 5 with a capacity of 4 to 20 people.

The basic route for marine buses is to be expanded from North Port to Yeongdo to Yongho Bay to Haeundae and to be gradually expanded in consideration of local conditions such as the activation of the Dongbusan Tourist Complex and the construction of Gadeok Island Airport.

It is expected that at least two vessels with 100 or more seats will be operated.

The competition for sea taxi pilot section operators and selection will be held in the second half of this year, and the sea bus operator competition will be held in the second half of next year.