No, already? I was going to achieve it by 2025. 100% Expansion, Call Taxi for the Disabled in Incheon

YTN Radio (FM 94.5) [YTN News FM Wise Radio Life]
□ Broadcast Date: November 6, 2024 (Wednesday)
□ Host: Announcer Park Gui-bin
□ Castor: Chae Kyung-sik, Director of Taxi Transportation, Incheon Metropolitan City

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

◆ Announcer Park Gui-bin (hereinafter referred to as Park Gui-bin): A daily white book, today we are with Incheon City. It is said that Incheon City has 100% expanded the legal number of 255 call taxis for the disabled. This is news that we expect the vulnerable to move more freely and conveniently and improve their quality of life. For more information, I will talk to Chae Kyung-sik, head of the taxi transportation department at Incheon Metropolitan City Hall. How are you, sir?

◇Chae Kyung-sik, Director of Taxi Transportation, Incheon Metropolitan City (hereinafter Chae Kyung-sik): Yes, MC and listeners! Hello?

◆Park Gui-bin: On October 23rd, the 'Transition Ceremony for 100% Expansion of the Legal Number of Call Taxi for the Disabled' was held. Please explain in detail that we have achieved 100% of the legal number one year earlier than originally planned.

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: Yes. That's right. On October 23rd, we held an event to expand 100% of the legal number of call taxis for the disabled in Incheon and hand over 50 newly introduced call taxis for the disabled to Incheon Transportation Corporation, a consignment management agency. I think it was a more meaningful and meaningful event because many disabled groups showed a lot of interest and celebrated together on this day. Currently, the legal number of special cars is set at 1 for every 150 people with severe walking disabilities in the 「Act on Promotion of Mobility for the Disabled」. According to this law, Incheon City should expand 255 special cars for the disabled. So this year, 40 new special cars were added, expanding the legal number by 100%.

◆Park Gui-bin: Until a few years ago, Incheon City had a low penetration rate of call taxis for the disabled among metropolitan cities?

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: Yes, unfortunately. The penetration rate of special vehicles in our city was 66.5% in 2021 and 75.7% in 2022, which was low among the six metropolitan cities nationwide. That's why Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok selected and promoted the 'Expanding Special Car for the Disabled' project as a pledge of the 8th popular election to guarantee the right to move the vulnerable. The pledge project was originally planned to increase on an annual basis from '22 to meet all legal requirements by '25. However, after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, social quarantine was lifted, and moreover, call taxi areas were expanded to nearby cities such as Bucheon, Gimpo, and Seoul from the year 23, greatly increasing the demand for boarding for the disabled. As a result, inconveniences such as increased waiting time have occurred, and in order to solve this problem as soon as possible, the city has significantly expanded its special vehicle and manpower this year one year earlier.

◆Park Gui-bin: Please briefly explain what efforts have been made in Incheon to achieve the legal number of disabled call taxis early.

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: Yes. Therefore, it took about 4.8 billion won to purchase a total of 104 vehicles, replacing 18 old vehicles and increasing 86 new cars in the three years from 22 to 24 this year. Of course, the number of drivers and counselors has been increased in line with the expansion of special vehicles. In particular, we are trying to provide users with the safety and convenience of vehicles by replacing 10 old vehicles over nine years in the 50 new vehicles introduced this year. And we are carefully predicting that this will be the highest penetration rate among metropolitan cities in the country, with an additional 20 call taxis for the disabled next year to achieve 108% of the legal number.

◆Park Gui-bin: There are counselors at the Incheon Transportation Vulnerable Mobile Support Center who try to make it easier for the disabled to use a call taxi. What are the difficulties of the counselors?

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: A total of 25 call counselors are working in shifts at our Incheon Transportation Vulnerable Mobile Support Center, and they are engaged in counseling services such as user registration, application, reception, and dispatch. Due to the ever-increasing number of applications and the occasional harsh tone of users, there are many difficulties as an emotional worker. Therefore, in order to protect counselors and improve treatment, we are steadily increasing the number of counselors to disperse the amount of counseling and take an appropriate rest. And we are also providing financial support to those who wish to do mental health programs. Through the protection and treatment of these counselors,
We believe that the satisfaction of mobile support center users can increase, and we will continue to listen to the difficulties of counselors and actively improve them.

◆Park Gui-bin: Yes, you achieved 100% of the legal number of call taxis for the disabled, but if this happens, you achieved your goal, so is it over now?

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: It's not over. I think "traffic welfare" is at the center of the Incheon city government, where citizens feel happiness. In particular, in order to guarantee the right to move for the disabled, Incheon City is not complacent about achieving 100% of the legal number of call taxis for the disabled, and promises to continue to make efforts in various fields to expand additional special vehicles, recruit more drivers, and improve the system for efficient operation of call taxis for the disabled. Thank you for your interest in and listening to Incheon Call Taxi for the Disabled.

◆Park Gui-bin: I was Chae Kyung-sik, head of the taxi transportation department at Incheon Metropolitan City Hall. Thank you.

◇ Chae Kyung-sik: Yes, thank you. Happy day to all our listeners.