Seoul Citizens' Top 10 Policies: 1st Place 'Electric Vehicle Expansion'... 2nd Place 'Smart Healthcare'

Online Voting for 30 Key Vision2030 Projects... 15,440 Citizens Participate
Greatest Interest Shown in Safe City Sector Among Future Visions

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Based on Seoul City's 10-year master plan 'Vision 2030,' the top policy that citizens most anticipate is the ‘Electric Vehicle (EV) Distribution and Establishment of a 5-Minute Charging Network in Residential Areas.’

On the 28th, Seoul City announced that in the citizen vote for ‘Vision 2030, Top 10 Seoul City Policies Citizens Expect,’ conducted online from the 10th to the 24th over 15 days, the ‘EV Distribution and Establishment of a 5-Minute Charging Network in Residential Areas’ received 6,298 votes (6.05%), ranking first. Following were ‘Seoul-style Smart Healthcare’ (6,128 votes, 5.88%), ‘The Dawn of the Underground Road Era’ (5,996 votes, 5.76%), ‘Revolutionizing Six Major Redevelopment Regulations’ (5,165 votes, 4.96%), and ‘Safe Hospital Companion for Single-Person Households’ (5,118 votes, 4.91%).

The citizen vote for selecting the ‘Top 10 Seoul City Policies’ was conducted among 30 major projects for implementing Vision 2030, with a total of 15,440 participants. Looking at the results by category, ‘Safe City’ accounted for the most with six policies ranked within the top 10 (1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th), followed by ‘Global Leading City’ with two (3rd and 8th), and ‘Coexistence City’ with two (4th and 7th). Citizens showed the greatest interest in the Safe City sector of Vision 2030’s future vision.

To support the first-place policy, ‘EV Distribution and Establishment of a 5-Minute Charging Network in Residential Areas,’ Seoul City plans to lead the EV era by distributing 270,000 electric vehicles and installing 200,000 chargers by 2025. To promote citizens’ EV purchases, subsidies ranging from 10 million KRW (passenger cars) to 160 million KRW (buses) were provided as of last year, with additional subsidies for eligible groups such as national merit recipients, persons with disabilities, and multi-child families. Furthermore, various benefits are offered, including tax support such as acquisition tax reductions (up to 6.6 million KRW) and a 50% discount on fees at Seoul City public parking lots.

Additionally, Seoul City is proactively establishing a customized charging infrastructure to meet increasing demand by distributing outlet-type and slow chargers in residential areas and public facilities, and installing rapid chargers at major facilities along main roads to respond to urgent charging needs, thereby improving EV demand creation and user convenience.

Regarding the second-place policy, ‘Seoul-style Smart Healthcare for Self-directed Health Management, OnSeoul HealthOn,’ Seoul City plans to continuously listen to and reflect the opinions of citizens participating in the OnSeoul HealthOn pilot project to further strengthen the service. As of the 22nd, recruitment of 30,000 participants was completed, and the first participants are currently managing their health independently by setting health goals and earning HealthOn points through walking activities and diet analysis using the Seoul On Band and OnSeoul HealthOn app.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Citizen Communication Planning at Seoul City, said, “This Top 10 policy selection vote was a new attempt to directly hear citizens’ opinions on what should be prioritized to create the future Seoul that citizens desire.” He added, “Through this vote, we could fully sense that citizens are highly interested not only in ongoing projects but also in future policies that Seoul City plans to pursue.”

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