131 residents, including neighborhood council members, formed the corps and held a launch ceremony Friday; the group will monitor and report violations in designated immediate-removal zones — a first among Seoul's autonomous districts
Seocho-gu in Seoul held a launch ceremony Friday at the district office's main auditorium for the "Road-Blocking E-Bike Watch Corps," a 131-member volunteer group drawn from neighborhood self-governance councils and local residents, marking the start of full-scale monitoring operations.
The initiative comes as a surge in shared electric bicycle use has left bikes abandoned on sidewalks across the district, posing safety hazards for pedestrians and blighting the urban streetscape — a problem that has grown into a serious community concern. In response, the district office introduced an "immediate removal" policy for obstructing e-bikes on April 27, taking preemptive action against the issue.
The newly launched corps serves as a key partner in making that immediate-removal policy more effective, monitoring the designated removal zones identified by the district and reporting violations.
The project is also notable for being the first initiative in Seocho-gu selected under the Seoul Metropolitan Government's "district-specific community project" competition, recognized for residents' proactive efforts — led by neighborhood self-governance committees — to resolve everyday inconveniences on their own. The corps was assembled in May, and following Friday's ceremony and preliminary training, full monitoring activities are set to begin June 15 across the district.
Seocho-gu District Mayor Jeon Seong-su attended the ceremony alongside Jang Byeong-hak, the corps' representative from the Banpo 2-dong neighborhood council, Kang Hee-jin, the resident representative from Seocho 4-dong, Kim Myeong-seop, chair of the Neighborhood Self-Governance Development Council, and more than 130 other local residents.
The ceremony proceeded in three parts: introductions of guests and congratulatory remarks, a declaration read aloud by corps members pledging to create streets where everyone from children to the elderly can walk safely, and a performance in which members burst balloons printed with the words "road-blocking," "obstruction," "inconvenience" and "disorder" — a symbolic affirmation of the group's resolve.
Immediately after the ceremony, corps members fanned out from the Yangjae Station subway entrance to conduct reporting and guidance activities targeting e-bikes parked in immediate-removal zones along Gangnam-daero and Seoundo-daero. The district said it plans to use the corps to establish a culture of responsible shared e-bike use and lead the way in building a pedestrian environment centered on residents' safety.
The "immediate removal" policy — the first of its kind among Seoul's autonomous districts — was introduced as part of the district's proactive approach to securing pedestrian safety. Five categories of locations are designated as immediate-removal zones: on tactile paving blocks or in the center of sidewalks, at subway station entrances and exits, within 5 meters of bus stops, within 3 meters of crosswalks, and on bicycle lanes. When a parked e-bike in any of these zones is reported, it is collected within three hours.
"The Road-Blocking E-Bike Watch Corps — where residents personally look out for and act on the inconveniences of daily life — is a model example of community self-governance," District Mayor Jeon Seong-su said. "We will do our utmost, together with the corps, to protect pedestrian safety and create a street environment that everyone can use comfortably."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
