Seoul City Supports Seniors Voluntarily Returning Driver's Licenses with '100,000 Won Prepaid Transportation Card'

Eligible applicants are Seoul residents aged 70 or older who voluntarily surrender their driver's license
Upon voluntary surrender, a prepaid transportation card worth 100,000 KRW is provided... Convenient use on buses, taxis, and more

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 30th that it will implement the prepaid transportation card support project for senior citizens who voluntarily return their driver's licenses starting from the 1st of next month.

The support target is senior citizens aged 70 or older registered as residents in Seoul who voluntarily return their driver's licenses. They can receive a transportation card loaded with 100,000 KRW per person immediately at their local community service center upon returning their license.

Seoul is facilitating the process of license return and transportation card receipt for senior citizens through a one-stop service for voluntary return of driver's licenses by elderly drivers. Seniors wishing to return their licenses can apply and receive the transportation card all at once at the community center without visiting the police station.

This year, 15,141 senior citizens aged 70 or older who voluntarily return their driver's licenses will receive transportation cards worth 100,000 KRW. Seoul will support 7,500 people from its own budget, 4,641 people from the National Police Agency’s national funds, and 3,000 people from the Tmoney Welfare Foundation fund. Applicants must be senior citizens aged 70 or older registered as residents in Seoul as of the license return date and must not have previously received benefits from the voluntary license return program.

The supported transportation card is an anonymous prepaid card loaded with 100,000 KRW. It can be used nationwide on transportation modes that accept transportation cards and at convenience stores and other Tmoney affiliated stores. However, for subways, a free ride system for seniors aged 65 or older is separately operated, so seniors must use the free transportation card to avoid fare deductions.

The ‘Senior Driver’s License Return’ program has seen a continuous increase in applications from senior citizens, supported by Seoul’s promotion of traffic accident safety measures for seniors and the transportation card support project. The number of senior citizens aged 70 or older returning their driver’s licenses in Seoul increased significantly from 1,236 in 2018 to 16,956 in 2019 when the transportation card support project began, 14,046 in 2020, and 15,204 in 2021.

Baek Ho, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “We expect that the voluntary return of driver’s licenses by senior citizens will play a significant role in preventing traffic accidents involving elderly drivers,” and added, “We will continue to work with the central government and the Tmoney Welfare Foundation to expand the scale of support.”

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