300 Days of Special Transport for Incheon Airport Arrivals, 100,000 People Transported... No COVID-19 Transmission Detected

Complete Blockage of COVID-19 Infection Sources Among Overseas Arrivals
Average Daily Use of 357 People... Regional Usage: Gangnam-gu 9.1%, Mapo-gu 8.6%, Gangseo-gu 5.8%
No Confirmed Cases Among Transport Workers Despite High Infection Rates in Overseas Arrivals

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 25th that the ‘Incheon Airport Overseas Arrivals Special Transport Dedicated Taxi,’ which has been in operation since April last year, has transported 100,000 passengers in just 300 days of operation.

The city has been operating the ‘Special Transport Dedicated Taxi’ to fundamentally block the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) caused by overseas arrivals and to ensure the safe movement of overseas arrivals through thorough quarantine management. Marking 300 days of operation to date, it has transported an average of 357 passengers per day, totaling 103,934 passengers. While assisting the safe return of overseas arrivals, it also plays a role in alleviating local residents’ anxiety by thoroughly blocking the source of infectious diseases entering from abroad.

Considering that 25% of arrivals at Incheon Airport are foreigners, 377 vehicles including foreigner-friendly tourist taxis and call vans capable of communicating with foreigners are dedicated to the special transport at Incheon Airport. Separate information desks are operated at Terminals 1 and 2 of Incheon Airport to facilitate easy use by overseas arrivals. Through these measures, the entire route from Incheon Airport → screening clinic → self-quarantine location (for two weeks) is managed to ensure the movement of overseas arrivals while fundamentally blocking contact with domestic residents.

To thoroughly block transmission by overseas arrivals, the special transport dedicated taxis implement strict quarantine management, including ▲installation of partitions separating drivers and passengers ▲thorough disinfection and ventilation after passenger drop-off ▲provision of hand sanitizers and frequent disinfection of drivers. As a result, despite transporting over 104,000 citizens including confirmed COVID-19 cases among overseas arrivals, there has not been a single confirmed case among the special transport taxi drivers.

Looking at usage performance, 9,457 passengers (9.1% of the total) traveled from Incheon Airport to Gangnam-gu, showing high usage. This was followed by Mapo-gu with 8,949 passengers (8.6%), Gangseo-gu with 5,978 passengers (5.8%), and Dobong-gu showing the lowest usage rate with 980 passengers (0.9%). Usage times may vary depending on flight schedules, but Fridays saw the highest number of passengers at 18,717 (18.0%) during the week, and the time slot between 16:00 and 19:00 recorded the highest usage with 39,358 passengers (38%).

The city plans to continue operating the special transport dedicated taxis until the end of COVID-19, continuously establishing a safe transportation system. For foreign tourist taxi drivers, COVID-19 diagnostic tests are mandatory at least once a month, and quarantine and infectious disease management will be conducted to fundamentally block any possible spread of infection.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, stated, “We are making every effort to ensure that citizens can safely move from arrival to self-quarantine locations through the special transport dedicated taxis,” adding, “We will continue to support transportation that citizens can trust by preventing the spread of COVID-19 through thorough quarantine management.”