Seoul City Launches 'Safe Return Taxi Service' Project in Full Swing... Linked with 70,000 Taxis

Taxi boarding alone sends boarding and alighting times, taxi information, etc., in real-time to guardians and 25 district CCTV control centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 14th that it plans to establish a ‘Safe Return Home Taxi Service’ for all 70,000 taxis in Seoul this year. Once passengers board a taxi, information such as boarding and alighting times, taxi details, and travel routes will be transmitted in real-time not only to guardians but also to the CCTV control centers of the resident district offices, aiming to alleviate the anxiety of taxi users during nighttime.

The ‘Safe Return Home Taxi’ service is designed to automatically send related information such as taxi boarding and alighting times and taxi details to guardians and the integrated control centers of the 25 autonomous districts without requiring users to input information separately. This new project, the first of its kind nationwide to ensure citizen safety related to taxi use, is being promoted with a budget of 350 million KRW. In particular, if an emergency occurs while using the taxi and a report is made, the resident police officers and controllers at the district’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) control center will respond urgently, leading to police dispatch.

The ‘Safe Return Home Taxi Service’ operates in real-time linked with Seoul’s 24-hour smart safety network’s Safe Return Home service, the ‘Ansim-i App.’ The Ansim-i App connects 60,000 CCTVs installed throughout Seoul with the integrated CCTV control centers of the districts to monitor in real-time whether users safely return home to their destinations and supports emergency police dispatch, functioning as a 24-hour safe return home app.

The Ansim-i App has been downloaded 185,514 times and currently has 115,340 registered users. In June 2019, a man in his early 50s approached a victim (a woman in her 30s) in Eunpyeong-gu, committed an obscene act, and fled. However, he was caught within 10 minutes at the scene thanks to a citizen report made through the Ansim-i App.

The ‘Safe Return Home Taxi Service’ improves the Ansim-i App’s functionality so that when citizens turn on the app upon boarding a taxi, taxi-related information is automatically sent to designated contacts such as guardians. When a user boards a taxi, without any additional action, the taxi’s information and communication technology (ICT) in the taxi payment device automatically transmits boarding and alighting times and taxi numbers to the integrated control center. This information is also delivered to guardians, allowing real-time confirmation. The service promotes safe taxi use by easily sending taxi boarding and alighting information and taxi details to designated contacts from boarding to alighting.

Registration for bidding to perform the ‘Seoul City Ansim-i Function Improvement Service’ for building the Safe Return Home Taxi Service is open until the 26th, with a project period of five months. After completing prior consultation with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in February, contract review and task review committee meetings were held in March, and this month a bidding announcement for selecting the project execution agency is underway. After selecting the contractor, the Safe Return Home Taxi service will be established over a five-month project period, followed by a pilot operation period, and the service will be fully launched in November.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “Everyone has probably experienced fear on their way home at night at least once.” She added, “Seoul will establish the Safe Return Home Taxi Service within this year to create a safe return home environment so that all Seoul citizens can use taxis at night with peace of mind.”