Designated Operation of Buyer-Only Zone in Garak Market Wholesale Area

Wholesale Area Buyer-Only Parking Zones Designated for Nighttime Peak Hours (9 PM to 8 AM) with 3 Shifts, Operated for One Year

Despite a 4.6% decrease in buyer-only parking zones this year, the unified operation hours by shift and expanded operation times, along with screening and designating large buyer vehicles, have enabled parking lot operation at a high efficiency rate of 183%, a 13% increase compared to the previous year.

The Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation (President Moon Young-pyo) announced that it will expand the operation of designated buyer parking zones in the wholesale area to enhance parking convenience for buyers during congested times such as nighttime, in line with the Garak Market facility modernization project (including the construction of Vegetable Building 2).

In 2023, the Garak Market wholesale area buyer-designated parking zones total 124 spaces, which is a temporary 4.6% decrease due to the modernization project. However, the market congestion hours (9 PM to 8 AM) have been expanded for large and medium-sized cargo vehicles, and the parking zones are operated in three shifts (1st shift: 9 PM to 2 AM, 2nd shift: 2 AM to 5 AM, 3rd shift: 5 AM to 8 AM).

In particular, considering that the previous designated parking zones operated with split time zones by area and that usage during the 3rd shift was low, this year the shifts’ time zones have been unified and operation hours expanded to improve user satisfaction.

Users of the buyer-only designated parking zones were selected and designated (a total of 227 vehicles) through a public recruitment in May, based on objective criteria such as annual purchase performance at Garak Market (submission of electronic tax invoices to the National Tax Service’s Hometax system in 2022) and the average monthly vehicle entry frequency recorded by the License Plate Recognition (LPR) access control system.

The designated operation period is about one year from June 1, 2023, and a new public recruitment will be conducted after the period expires.

Additionally, in connection with the future Garak Market modernization project, adjustments and flexible changes will be made to the existing designated parking zones, including the completion of the Vegetable Building 2 parking lot, the addition of a temporary parking lot on the north side of Wholesale Area Section 2, and the loss of some zones.

Kwon Ki-tae, Head of the Corporation’s Environmental Development Division, stated, “We will continue to discover and create customer-friendly parking spaces to make Garak Market a convenient place for buyers and a market they want to revisit.”

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