"Elderly Driver's License Return and Transportation Card Application at the Same Dong Community Center"

Seoul City, Ministry of the Interior and Safety-Police Agency Linked 'One-Stop Service for Voluntary License Surrender by Elderly Drivers'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Elderly residents aged 70 and over in the Seoul area who wish to voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses can now visit their nearby community service center instead of going to a police station or driver's license examination office, and receive a transportation card loaded with 100,000 KRW immediately upon license surrender.

Seoul City announced on the 28th that starting from the 1st of next month, it will launch the nation's first "One-Stop Service for Voluntary Surrender of Elderly Driver's Licenses."

Previously, to surrender a driver's license, individuals had to visit a police station or driver's license examination office to submit their license and transportation card application form, then go through a separate selection process by Seoul City to receive the transportation card via registered mail. The issuance of the transportation card after application could take anywhere from a few days to several months.

Seoul City has introduced the one-stop service established by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Police Agency for the first time nationwide, allowing license surrender and transportation card issuance to be completed simultaneously at community service centers.

This year in Seoul, 17,685 elderly residents aged 70 and over who voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses will be eligible to receive transportation cards worth 100,000 KRW. This is about 10,000 more than last year (7,500 people), an increase of 2.4 times.

The eligible applicants are elderly residents aged 70 and over (born on or before December 31, 1950) who are registered residents of Seoul as of the license surrender date and have never received benefits for voluntary license surrender before.

The supported transportation card is an anonymous prepaid card loaded with 100,000 KRW. It can be used nationwide on transportation services that accept transportation cards and at T-money affiliated convenience stores. However, since there is a separate free ride system for elderly people aged 65 and over on the subway, elderly individuals must use the free transportation card for seniors to avoid fare deductions.

In Seoul, thanks to the promotion of elderly traffic accident safety measures and the transportation card support project, cases of voluntary license surrender have significantly increased. The number of elderly residents aged 70 and over in Seoul who surrendered their driver's licenses rose from 1,236 in 2018 to 16,956 after the transportation card support project was launched in 2019, an increase of about 14 times.

More than 5,900 elderly residents who voluntarily surrendered their licenses last year but did not receive support due to budget shortages have been provided transportation cards in the first half of this year with the new budget.

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