"App Sseul Jul Molla" Elderly Stand, Young People Sit on Holiday KTX

Chuseok KTX Ticketing Fully Switched to Contactless
Middle-aged and Elderly Facing Difficulties Booking Tickets
"Some Suggest Allowing On-site Booking" Opinions

Recently, a 'nationwide ticketing' event took place for purchasing Chuseok KTX tickets, but there are those who couldn't even dare to participate in the ticketing. These are the 'digitally marginalized groups,' such as middle-aged and elderly people who have difficulty using digital devices.

The photo is unrelated to the article content. [Photo source=Pixabay]

On the 2nd, a video showing the face-to-face reservation scene for Chuseok KTX tickets was posted on the YouTube channel 'SBS News.'

Chuseok ticket reservations were conducted 100% non-face-to-face through the Korail website and application from the 29th to the 31st of last month. Face-to-face reservations were only conducted for a small number of remaining seats after all non-face-to-face reservations were completed. The reservation site was crowded with middle-aged and elderly people lining up to purchase tickets.

Korail allocated 10% of all seats for one day on the 29th of last month to the information-vulnerable groups (disabled and elderly) for priority reservation, but those who were unaware of this information or unable to use PC or mobile devices gathered after failing to reserve tickets.

Most of the tickets they could purchase through face-to-face reservations were 'standing tickets.' Even these could only be purchased by lining up 1 to 2 hours before the reservation time.

This problem did not occur only in train ticket reservations. Although all tickets for express buses and others were sold out, middle-aged and elderly people who did not know how to check via mobile had to go to the site directly to confirm whether tickets were sold out.

People gathered at Seoul Station to purchase KTX tickets on-site.
[Photo by SBS News YouTube]

In fact, according to the 'Elderly Survey' conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2020 targeting 10,097 people aged 65 and older, elderly people experienced inconvenience and difficulties due to diversified use of information devices.

Among the elderly, 58.3% had experience booking transportation such as trains, express buses, and intercity buses through information devices, but 60.4% of them reported experiencing inconvenience.

Also, according to the '2022 Digital Information Gap Survey' conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, only 28.5% of 2,300 elderly people aged 55 and older were able to connect to and use the internet via PC.

The number of people who could install and use necessary applications through mobile devices was only 49.2%, barely half.

One netizen commented, "Many people give up because they feel embarrassed to ask those around them," and suggested that instead of conducting 100% non-face-to-face reservations, some tickets should be available for on-site reservation.

Another netizen said, "Even young people find it difficult to purchase tickets due to server overload and complicated processes. How about elderly people?" and "It seems like an area that requires consideration."

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