Providing Customized Route Guidance Service for Transportation-Disadvantaged
User Location-Based Low-Floor Bus Reservation Also Available
A customized service app designed to assist transportation-vulnerable individuals, such as wheelchair and stroller users, by guiding them along easily navigable routes will be launched.
Seoul City announced on the 16th that starting from the 17th, it will begin a pilot service for the integrated transportation service for transportation-vulnerable individuals called 'Seoul Donghaeng Map.' Seoul Donghaeng Map consolidates various transportation services for vulnerable users that had previously been operated separately across multiple platforms into one place.
Seoul Donghaeng Map features a 'customized route guidance and walking inconvenience notification service' tailored for transportation-vulnerable individuals. In particular, it provides customized route guidance reflecting factors such as level differences, slopes, narrow sidewalks, and the locations of subway elevators and escalators, depending on the user's situation, including the elderly, pregnant women, and wheelchair users. For example, when a wheelchair user searches for a route, the app avoids paths with level differences over 2cm, slopes steeper than approximately 12 degrees, and sidewalks narrower than 1.2 meters. For elderly and pregnant users, the app prioritizes routes including subway escalators.
App users can also directly report locations where they experience walking difficulties. The reported locations will be used to update walking inconvenience information within the app after on-site verification, and the information will be forwarded to the relevant management departments to promote on-site improvements.
Additionally, Seoul Donghaeng Map will pilot a real-time user location-based low-floor bus reservation system. Users can search for bus information, reserve a bus, and then board it. After reserving a route and boarding/alighting stop, when the user arrives within 30 meters of the stop, the reservation information is transmitted to the bus. The bus driver, having been notified in advance, prepares for the use of wheelchair lifts, makes announcement broadcasts, and proceeds with stopping the bus accordingly.
Customized information on facilities within subway stations will also be provided. By selecting the desired subway station information on Seoul Donghaeng Map, users can check real-time train operation information, the presence of elevators and escalators within the station, nursing rooms, and electric wheelchair charging stations. Notably, a 'location-based subway station call button' will be offered, allowing users to connect by phone to the nearest subway station staff in case they need assistance inside the station, such as with safety footrests.
Integration with the existing Disabled Call Taxi app is also planned. Users of the Disabled Call Taxi app will be able to search for other transportation methods within Seoul Donghaeng Map and easily switch to the Disabled Call Taxi app if needed. Seoul City explained that this is the first attempt among local governments to provide an integrated transportation service for transportation-vulnerable individuals.
Yoon Jong-jang, Director of the Seoul City Urban Transportation Office, said, "We hope Seoul Donghaeng Map will become a life-oriented service that adds convenience to the daily lives of all citizens, including transportation-vulnerable individuals." He added, "We will continue to pursue transportation policies that accompany the vulnerable to support their convenience in using public transportation."
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