Traffic falls 2 pct in 2008 on high oil prices: report

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- High oil prices caused automobile operations in South Korea to decline in 2008 from a year earlier, a government report said Tuesday.

The report by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said 12,125
vehicles were driven nationwide on average per day in 2008, down from 12,373
units the year before. The count measures only the number of vehicles using major
roadways.
The average price of Dubai crude, which makes up the bulk of South Korea's oil
imports, reached US$94.29 per barrel last year. That compares with an average of
$68.43 for 2007 and $55.05 for the first 11 days of this month.
The findings also showed that car operations fell 6.9 percent and 5.4 percent,
respectively in June and July of last year when prices of crude oil surged to
record high levels.
The ministry said passenger cars and cargo trucks were hit the hardest by soaring
oil prices, with operations falling 2.0 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively,
for those vehicles last year compared to 2007.
Bus operations, however, gained 2.5 percent.
"Operations of buses rose in the cited year as more people turned to public
transportation and kept their cars at home," a official said.
The report also showed that despite high oil prices, the total number of
registered vehicles increased 2.2 percent on-year to 16.79 million units by the
end of 2008.