Expansion of 'Contactless Food Ordering' at Highway Rest Areas... Preventing the Spread of COVID-19

Vehicles are moving slowly on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading toward Busan near Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Contactless food ordering services at highway rest areas will be expanded.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Expressway Corporation announced on the 31st that, as the contactless payment market is expanding due to COVID-19, contactless services will also be expanded on highways.

First, a contactless ordering service that allows customers to pre-order and pay for food before arriving at the rest area to reduce waiting time is scheduled to be expanded to all rest areas (199 locations) next year.

Customers can search for rest areas and order and pay for food through smartphone applications such as Naver and Payco. They can also order food by scanning QR codes on rest area tables or banners with their smartphone cameras. Additionally, the unmanned payment system (kiosk) at rest areas will be expanded to all rest areas by next year.

An eco-friendly vehicle charging facility information service will also be introduced. By using the highway traffic information app operated by Korea Expressway Corporation, users can check the availability and operating hours of electric and hydrogen vehicle charging facilities at each rest area.

For electric vehicle chargers, users can check the installation status of chargers at the rest area, output per charger, and charging method (standard). In the future, the system will be developed to also display charger malfunction status and whether the charger is in use.

The self-service gas station unpaid toll payment service, which allows users to check and pay unpaid tolls contactlessly while refueling, is currently available at 80 self-service gas stations.

Jang Sun-jae, Director of Road Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "In line with the shift to a contactless society, we will introduce various contactless services on highways so that the public can use highways more conveniently."