Suwon City in Gyeonggi Province will begin a pilot operation of 'shared bicycle and kickboard (PM) virtual parking zones' in the area around Yeongtong District Office Intersection starting from May 12.
The virtual parking zones are areas where Suwon City, in cooperation with operating companies, intensively manages illegal parking in order to address parking issues related to shared bicycles and kickboards.
The operation will take place within a rectangular zone that connects Maehyeon Elementary School Samgeori, Maehyeon Samgeori, Maetan Jugong Green Ville 2 Complex, Maetan Edu Park City 1, and returns to Maehyeon Elementary School Samgeori.
Users must park in one of the 23 designated parking spots within the virtual parking zones. If they park outside the permitted areas, they will be charged an additional fee ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 won.
Among the shared bicycle and kickboard operators, six companies?Flower Road, Swing, Gcoo, Elecle, Kakao Bike, and Everybike?that operate in the Yeongtong District Office Intersection area are participating in the pilot operation of the virtual parking zones.
Suwon City plans to expand the number of virtual parking zones to 15 in the future. Based on the results of the pilot operation, the city will review the effectiveness and appropriateness, and will add two more zones within the second half of this year, reflecting the results of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's regulatory sandbox demonstration exception.
A Suwon City official stated, "Problems threatening pedestrian safety are occurring due to indiscriminate parking by some users of shared bicycles and kickboards," and added, "Through this pilot operation, we aim to protect pedestrian safety and minimize inconvenience for citizens."
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