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[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 27th that it will establish detailed measures for the safe use of electric kickboards to establish parking order and promote effective mobility policies.

This plan mainly includes expanding towing enforcement within the year, inspecting towing agencies to prevent illegal and improper towing, establishing win-win measures with shared PM companies, conducting public campaigns to improve usage culture, and reviewing the installation of personal mobility device parking zones. In particular, since the illegal parking, which was one of the major complaints after the nationwide first kickboard towing enforcement started in July, has shown a decreasing trend, it is expected that policies that citizens can feel will be promoted more rapidly through this phased plan.

First, Seoul plans to expand electric kickboard towing, which has shown high effectiveness in reducing citizen inconvenience and improving complaints, to all autonomous districts. Seoul classifies illegally parked personal mobility devices into ‘immediate towing zones’ and ‘general sidewalks’ for towing operations. In ‘immediate towing zones’ such as roads and subway entrances, illegally parked devices are towed immediately upon discovery, while in ‘general sidewalks,’ shared PM companies collect or relocate the devices within 3 hours.

In fact, after the kickboard towing enforcement began, the number of complaint reports has decreased, showing practical effects in resolving the problem of abandoned electric kickboards. Analyzing the report status for two months from July, the number of reports in the last week compared to the first week of towing enforcement decreased by about 35%, indicating immediate improvements since the initial implementation. The number of reports dropped from 1,242 to 812, a decrease of about 35%, and among the 8,426 reported cases, 99.8% (8,406 cases) were completed, showing that rapid action against illegally parked electric kickboards is being taken through active participation by local governments and companies.

Accordingly, Seoul plans to sequentially expand kickboard towing, currently implemented in 15 autonomous districts, to the entire city to create a safer and more orderly usage environment. Due to positive citizen responses, the number of participating districts has more than doubled from 6 at the first implementation to 15 currently, and after October, 8 more districts will be added, making a total of 23 districts implementing the policy simultaneously within the year.

Additionally, continuous towing inspections will be conducted to prevent illegal towing and manage on-site operations. This aims to minimize complaints related to improper towing of parked electric kickboards and to enhance the effectiveness of towing enforcement by collecting opinions from shared PM companies, the direct parties involved, during inspections. Through inspections, administrative sanction standards considering gross negligence, intentionality, and illegality of violations by towing agencies will be established. If illegality in towing violations is proven, strong measures such as cancellation or suspension of agency designation and termination of agreements will be considered.

Furthermore, as electric kickboards are becoming a new personal transportation means, Seoul will prepare win-win measures through communication with autonomous districts and shared PM companies. In particular, continuous consultations are underway to develop operational plans reflecting on-site voices to encourage self-regulation by shared PM companies following towing enforcement.

Specifically, improvements include supplementing the return system within immediate towing zones, introducing penalties to sanction malicious users, and changing terms and conditions to charge towing fees to the final users. In addition to institutional management, various opinions are being gathered to induce changes in user behavior. Along with this, the city, autonomous districts, and shared PM industry plan to conduct a large-scale campaign to improve the usage culture of personal mobility devices.

With the amendment of the Road Traffic Act providing a basis for installing personal mobility device parking zones, Seoul plans to prioritize installing parking zones in areas with high electric kickboard usage to establish proper parking order. Installing personal mobility device parking zones is expected to create a synergistic effect in managing illegal parking along with towing enforcement.

Baek Ho, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “Since the towing enforcement began in July, the number of complaints has been decreasing, and it seems that practical effects are being achieved as the system stabilizes,” adding, “We will do our best to establish a personal mobility usage culture that satisfies citizens, shared electric kickboard companies, and autonomous districts.”