Launch of the 'Good Shuttle Alliance' Supporting Commute for Transportation-Disadvantaged Individuals

Participation of 7 Companies and Institutions Including SK Telecom and Coupang

On the 15th, a business agreement ceremony for the 'Good Shuttle Alliance' was held at the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si. From the left, Park Dae-ho, Executive Director of Happy Connect; Yeo Ji-young, Open Collaboration Manager at SK Telecom; Kim Ki-ryeong, Vice President of Coupang; Nam Yong-hyun, Director of the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled; Lee Seon-je, Head of the Research and Development Special Zone Promotion Foundation; Kang Tae-hyun, Head of the Daejeon Center for Creative Economy and Innovation; and Jang Ji-hwan, CEO of Modu-ui Shuttle, are posing for a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] The ‘Good Shuttle Alliance,’ which supports the commuting of transportation-vulnerable groups such as people with severe disabilities, has been launched.

On the 16th, seven companies and organizations including SK Telecom, Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Coupang, Modu Shuttle, Happy Connect, Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, and Daejeon Center for Creative Economy & Innovation announced that they had signed a business agreement to promote mobility rights and employment for disabled workers.

The representatives of the participating companies and organizations who attended the signing ceremony held on the 15th at the Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities in Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, agreed to join forces to expand opportunities for social participation of people with severe disabilities nationwide.

The Good Shuttle Alliance is a coalition formed by the companies participating in ‘Good Shuttle Mobility,’ which was launched last October to assist commuting for workers with severe disabilities, aiming to enhance the service and expand it nationwide. Four new companies and organizations, including Coupang, have joined. Good Shuttle Mobility supports shuttle bus services from home to workplace for people with severe disabilities who find it difficult to use public transportation without assistance, ensuring safe commuting and efficient time management.

Previously, the Good Shuttle Mobility pilot project was first implemented in Seongnam City. The pilot project, conducted until May for workers at vocational rehabilitation facilities for the disabled in Seongnam City, safely and promptly transported about 80 workers to their workplaces during the six-month trial period, achieving a high user satisfaction rate of 93.4%. It also significantly reduced waiting times and costs compared to using individual disabled call taxis.

In the Seongnam City pilot project, SK Telecom sponsored part of the shuttle fare to reduce the financial burden on customers and provided optimal safe routes based on T map data analysis. Seongnam City supported the labor costs of safety assistants helping disabled workers, and the Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities provided location verification assistive technology devices. Modu Shuttle enabled real-time reservations, vehicle location tracking, and seat availability checks for customers through Good Shuttle Mobility based on its expertise in shared commuting shuttle services.

The newly launched Good Shuttle Alliance plans to strengthen a private-sector-centered sponsorship system and continue efforts to expand Good Shuttle Mobility services nationwide. To this end, it plans to increase the operating areas of Good Shuttle Mobility mainly in the metropolitan area within this year and pursue nationwide service expansion in the long term.

Coupang became the first general company to join the alliance in the form of donation sponsorship. Coupang plans to support the activation of the service by donating national subsidies received from hiring workers aged 60 and over to the Good Shuttle Mobility project. The Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology will provide shuttle brokerage automation technology to link with public technology, and the Daejeon Center for Creative Economy & Innovation will offer local government collaboration networking for rapid business expansion in the region. The Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities and Happy Connect will explore ways to expand services for the disabled to other socially vulnerable groups such as the elderly and pregnant women.

Kim Giryeong, Vice President in charge of HR CoE at Coupang, said, “We will actively support the nationwide expansion of Good Shuttle Mobility, which has high social value,” adding, “We will contribute to creating a virtuous cycle structure to provide sustainable jobs for vulnerable employment groups.” Jang Jihwan, CEO of Modu Shuttle, stated, “With continued support from local governments and companies to help the social participation of people with disabilities, we expect to introduce nationwide services in the near future.” Yeo Jiyoung, head of Open Collaboration at SK Telecom, said, “Through continuous cooperation with SK ICT family companies such as our subsidiary T map Mobility, we will make various efforts to improve mobility rights for people with disabilities, including optimizing shuttle routes.”

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