Starting from Friday, almost all of the intercity buses in Gyeonggi Province will not accept passengers when there are no seats left.

Fourteen affiliates of KD Transportation Group, a local transportation company, will implement the no-standing policy from Friday, affecting some eleven-hundred buses on 146 intercity routes that account for 44 percent of the buses running between Gyeonggi and Seoul.

The companies reportedly decided to implement the policy for the safety of passengers after the Itaewon crowd crush, joining some other bus operators that have already implemented the policy to eliminate standing on most intercity buses in the province.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to employ 15 additional buses including three reserve vehicles within this month to reduce confusion during commuting hours.

It also plans to operate an additional 46 buses on 22 routes to increase 23-hundred seats within this year, but it will take some time for these plans to be implemented.