10 Million KRW Transportation Card Provided to 17,600 Elderly Drivers Who Voluntarily Returned Their Driver's Licenses

Seoul City Expands Support Scale by 10,000 This Year ... Supports All Unassisted Applicants from Last Year by May

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City will further expand this year its program that provides 100,000 KRW in transportation expenses to elderly drivers who voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses as part of its policy to reduce traffic accident fatalities.

On the 23rd, the city announced that it plans to expand the "Driver's License Voluntary Surrender Senior Transportation Card Support Project," which supported 7,500 people last year, to 17,685 people in 2020. This total includes 7,500 supported by the city's own budget, 5,900 by the T-money Welfare Foundation, and 4,285 by the National Police Agency's government funding.

The program targets seniors aged 70 or older (born on or before December 31, 1950) who have not previously received benefits from voluntarily surrendering their driver's licenses, are registered residents of Seoul at the time of license surrender, and who voluntarily surrendered their licenses after March 28 of last year, when the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Ordinance on Support for Preventing Traffic Accidents Involving Elderly Drivers" was enacted, resulting in license cancellation.

Seniors who were unable to apply for the transportation card support program during this period can apply by bringing a driver's license cancellation notice or a driving record certificate issued by the police station.

The transportation card provided to seniors who surrender their licenses is an anonymous prepaid card loaded with 100,000 KRW, which can be used on buses, taxis, convenience stores, and other T-money affiliated merchants nationwide. However, for subways, since a free ride system is separately operated for seniors aged 65 and older, seniors must use the free transportation card to avoid fare deductions.

The city plans to provide the transportation card to about 5,900 seniors who applied for support after voluntarily surrendering their licenses last year but were excluded due to budget shortages by early May.

Additionally, for seniors newly applying to voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses this year, the city will provide transportation cards simultaneously at the local community service centers when the license is surrendered.

The number of seniors aged 70 or older in Seoul who surrendered their driver's licenses increased about 14 times from 1,236 in 2018 to 16,956 after the transportation card support program was promoted in 2019.

Meanwhile, Seoul City is also producing and distributing "Silver Mark Stickers" to encourage considerate and yielding driving by other citizens toward elderly drivers who continue to drive.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.