Yet another article on city design by Prof. Kwon Yeong-geol. What would your ideal Korean taxi look like? No sense in doing it only on a municipal basis as often you can never tell where a city ends and another one begins here.
Original article
One of the first things people see after they arrive in a foreign country and leave the airport are the taxis. As taxis carry a core role in creating the image of a city, world-class cities have a certain colour motif on their taxis to distinguish them from regular cars. The most prominent example of this are the black cabs in London. They are a core factor in the image of London with their classic design, black body and kind service provided by the drivers. This black cab with its tall roof was designed with an eye on habitability in London where at the time the wearing of hats was common. Now it has become one of the images of England known to the public.
When you think of New York you think of rows of yellow taxis covering the road. The vehicular style of the New York yellow cab is a standard one. However, its yellow paint job contrasts with the grey concrete and dark steel buildings, making it easy to see anywhere.
How about us then? There are a total of 200,000 taxis in the country, 70,000 of which are in Seoul, but not only are they not distinguishable from the local environment but nor are they from regular vehicles. Without a special standard colour, the only thing that lets us know that this is a taxi is the 택시 (Taxi) symbol on the roof, and the red 빈차 (empty car) letters lit up inside the window. Taxis need a design so that people that are not used to a place are able to easily distinguish them at a distance. Just as commercialized products are sold based on the black cabs of London and the yellow cabs of New York, our taxis need to become a symbol loved by the people of the city.
But what about people that *want* to breathe the second-hand smoke from the ajosshi next to them? Who has thought about their needs?
Great news. It’s World No-Tobacco Day and the WHO is also calling for further restrictions on exposing people to second-hand smoke.
Original article
No More Smoking at Bus Stops in Seoul
Coinciding with World No Tobacco Day, the city of Seoul has gone into action on smoking restrictions at outdoor smoking areas such as bus stops.
According to the city of Seoul on the 30th of May, major bus stops in the city have been designated as non-smoking areas, and that it is also considering making parks, apartments and other public places non-smoking areas.
On the 30th the city first made the following areas non-smoking: bus stops in the centre of the road in Jongno 2-ga and Baek Hospital, Gangnam Station and Yeonsei University, and transfer areas of Cheongnyangni and Guro Digital Complex; this test run will be carried out for the next three months.
A spokesperson from the city said that “at present 90% of the people from the city have expressed support for making bus stops non-smoking areas,” and that “once the trial period has ended in September we plan to make all city bus stops non-smoking areas.”
Along with this the city of Seoul will be moving towards making Children’s Grand Park and Seoul National University Park non-smoking areas as well, and at the same time through a reform of the applicable laws, will also make parks in the city run by city government institutions non-smoking as well.
The city of Seoul has also sent official correspondences to the 2,650 apartment complexes in the city to inquire about making apartments non-smoking as well, and in the case that an apartment complex is designated as one the city will provide support in the form of non-smoking clinics, health services for residences, and technical support for setting up designated smoking areas.
The third article we’ve chosen to publish on Prof. Kwon Yeong-Geol’s city design series shows one of the few places (few in my opinion, that is) where some smaller cities have bested Seoul. Actually, even places like Gunpo near the capital have this. Why don’t we have this right in the city again? Not that I would recommend anyone take a bus in the first place, can’t stand the bloody things. Let’s go to the article to see to what I’m referring:
Original article
Bus stop signs that make you wait all day long
Waiting for the bus is so boring. Since you never know when it’s going to come you get the privilege of waiting there like a crane with your neck stretched out as you stare off into the distance towards where it’s supposed to come.
Fearing that you might miss it, you can’t go to nearby bookstores or even convenience stores. Waiting as the dazzling summer sunshine pours down on you, or as the cold winter wind blows in is the definition of torture. “If only I knew when the bus was coming…” is the waiting passenger’s earnest wish.
The city of Gimhae and a few local autonomous districts have removed this anguish. Gimhae has changed their signs to electronic ones in places with high population density – that is, they’ve installed LED systems on their signs to let you know when the bus is going to come. People there get to wait light-heartedly for only a minute or two, and are able to make best use of their time. Shops around the station then have increased business. Three birds with one stone.
Way back when, we used to wait in long lines at the bank too. This problem as well was solved with the introduction of a numbered ticket machine for waiting customers, an act that gave people an improved ability to predict events in their daily lives. That’s an important factor for living a good life in the city.
Since last year, the Joongang Ilbo has been publishing articles on city design by a professor named 권영걸. The large majority of these not only apply to non-Koreans as well, but also compare Korea to just about every other country in the world, and once again are pure common sense. Here he tackles the issue of pedestrian rights, which is a pressing one to those of us in Seoul and elsewhere who have to dodge drivers blowing red lights into our crossing lanes.
The street is the area in which people and cars meet. Having crosswalks installed to divide the road between the sidewalks is for the protection of both the pedestrian and the driver.
However, we find most drivers waiting in front of crosswalks with agitation for the pedestrian lights to change. It feels as if the pedestrians have decided to borrow the car’s roadway for a period of time until the light changes and the road resorts back to its proper owner.
In developed countries we find a widespread driving culture where pedestrians are given the right of way even not at crosswalks. Well, what about Korea? Most of the lines painted on the road are centered on the car, not the pedestrian.
In roads in England one can often see a zig-zag pattern on the roads. This is a type of notice to those from far away that there’s going to be a pedestrian crossing up ahead.
The broken line hits the driver visually, having a strong effect in catching their attention. This is because the straight line has suddenly turned into a zig-zag pattern, letting the driver know that though as yet unseen, pedestrians are up ahead. Then the driver slowly lowers the speed of the vehicle and is able to wait while the pedestrian crosses the road. The broken-line zig-zag pattern not only helps the pedestrian stay safe, but gives a strong feeling of liveliness and added exuberance to the road.
Lane markers at a Korean pedestrian crossing.
Both sides of a pedestrian crossing in England.
Recently the Hanguk Ilbo has been featuring ideas from readers and regular people on what could be done to make the subway system in Korea more user-friendly, and some of the ideas are pure common sense. Here’s the gist of one of them featured in the paper yesterday:
When getting off at Cheongnyangni Station on the line 1 of the subway in Seoul, you can walk a mere 100 metres to get to the above-ground Cheongnyangni Station just down the street. The thing is though, doing this means you have to buy a new ticket, because the subway isn’t set up to allow this.
At the same time though, if you get out at the same station, take the bus, go around the city a ways, come back and then get off at the same station and reboard the train, then it’s free. The present system ironically allows a free ’subway – bus – subway’ transfer (only fees for extra distance are tacked on) but a ’subway – walk – subway’ transfer is not free.
One other example of this is when you get off at Shinyongsan Station on the line 4, Yongsan Station on the line 1 is just down the street, and there are many more.
Japan has already adopted a system that allows people to take advantage of walking. When the distance between two stations is short but an underground pathway hasn’t been built yet, people are allowed to pass the ticket gates, walk to a nearby station and get back on the train for no extra charge.
Doing this in Korea would save money in not having to construct extra underground tunnels and would only require a new type of ticket gate that could recognize this.
