Seoul Facilities Corporation Recruits 80 Local Bicycle Shops for 'Ddarungi Repair' Service

Seoul Individual Small Business Owners with Maintenance Skills and Environmental Standards Eligible to Apply, Perform Ddareungi Maintenance Tasks Until November

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Facilities Corporation announced on the 24th that it will recruit about 80 private bicycle shops to support the repair work of Seoul's public bicycles, Ddareungi, this year. The corporation started the ‘Ddareungipo’ (Ddareungi + neighborhood shop) project in 2019 with the aim of revitalizing local small businesses and improving bicycle repair efficiency.

The eligibility criteria require individual small business operators handling bicycle repairs, with business locations in Seoul, operating bicycle shops for more than three years, and meeting maintenance capability and environment standards.

Applicants who wish to participate can download the application form from the Seoul Facilities Corporation website and submit it via email by March 2. The corporation plans to select Ddareungipo operators who meet the qualification criteria and notify them individually on March 4. Selected operators will sign a business agreement by March 11 and receive guidance on work procedures.

Bicycle shops selected as ‘Ddareungipo’ operators will perform Ddareungi maintenance work for about nine months from mid-March to the end of November. The corporation delivers broken bicycles to individual shops, where repairs are carried out, and once repairs are completed, the bicycles are collected by the corporation and redeployed on site. For more detailed information regarding operation methods or eligibility, please check the recruitment announcement on the website or contact by phone.

As of February 2022, 40,500 Seoul public bicycles, Ddareungi, are in operation. The total number of registered users is 3.32 million, and the corporation plans to expand the number of Ddareungi to 43,500 by the end of this year.

Jeon Ki-seong, Head of the Management Strategy Headquarters at the corporation, said, “Through the Ddareungipo project, we aim to enhance maintenance stability by collaborating with skilled private bicycle shops and help revive the local economy, which has been stagnant due to COVID-19. We will do our best to operate Ddareungi so that citizens can use it more safely and conveniently.”

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