Taxi location tracking service available for female passengers

Taxi location tracking service available for female passengers

By Kim Rahn Seoul taxies will introduce a location-tracking service enabling concerned family members or friends of female passengers to check through the Internet if they are safely reaching their destination at night. It is one of many projects of the city government to make the city “women-friendly.” Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday about 6,400 taxies will provide the service later this year, and will gradually be expanded to include all brand taxies. Six taxi companies are designated as Seoul’s brand taxi operators, with 41,363 cars, or about 54 percent of the total number of taxies in Seoul, as of November last year. If a woman passenger applies for the service when calling a cab, her location can be monitored live on the call center’s website. So far, the call center has sent cell phone text messages to family members of passengers to inform them of the license plate number of the taxi and when and where the passengers got into the taxies. “As the previous service provided only the time and location of boarding, the family had to just wait until the passenger came home, without knowing if the cab driver took a different direction from the direction of home. Watching the cab’s location live on the Internet, the family can check for anything suspicious,” said Huh Mi-yeon, assistant mayor for Women and Family Policy Affairs. Childcare service Another women-friendly project is to expand childcare services. Starting 2012, a dual-income family will receive up to 600,000 won if the child is aged two and under and the child’s grandparents, relatives, or neighbors take care of him or her. The financial support is excluded for households whose income belongs to the wealthy top 30 percent. The city will also increase the number of public nursery schools to 1,000 by 2014 from the current 760. A construction manual is also being prepared to recommend builders to construct more women-friendly buildings. The city has promoted designating female driver-only parking spaces and increased the number of toilets in women’s restrooms. “Now we’ll encourage constructors to consider such female-friendly facilities from the designing stage of a building,” Huh said. 여성을 위한 콜택시 위치 추적 서비스 도입 서울시의 브랜드 택시들은 가족이나 친구들이 인터넷으로 여성 탑승자가 무사히 목적지에 가고 있는지 확인할 수 있는 위치 추적 서비스를 도입하기로 했다. 이는 서울시의 여성행복 프로젝트 중의 하나이다. 올해 안에 약 6,4000개의 택시에서 이 서비스가 실시될 것이고, 점차 모든 브랜드 택시로 확대될 것이다. 여자 승객이 콜택시를 부를 때 이 서비스를 신청하면, 그 탑승객의 위치가 콜센터의 홈페이지에서 실시간으로 확인될 것이다. 지금까지는 콜센터에서 탑승객의 가족에게 택시 차량 번호와 탑승 시간, 위치만을 문자로 전송했었다. 서울시의 허미연 여성가족정책관은 “이전 서비스가 탑승 시간과 위치만 알려줬기 때문에, 가족들은 혹시나 택시가 집과 다른방향으로 가는지 어떤지 알 도리가 없고, 탑승객이 집에 도착할 때까지 기다리는 수밖에 없었습니다. 택시의 위치를 인터넷에서 실시간으로 보면서 가족들은 이제 뭔가 의심스러운 상황이 일어나는지 확인할 수가 있습니다”라고 말했다.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr