Seoul expands fueling assistance for pregnant women, people with disabilities

[Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is expanding a fueling assistance service for mobility-impaired drivers, including pregnant women and people with disabilities.

Starting Thursday, 50 additional gas stations will join the program, which launched as a pilot in March with 46 participating locations. Another 50 stations are set to join next month. Once the expansion is complete, the total number of participating stations will reach 146 — three times the original count.

The service began in March when Seoul signed MOUs with the Korea Petroleum Association, the Korea Gas Station Association, and four refiners — SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and HD Hyundai Oilbank. It has since operated as a pilot at 46 company-run self-service stations.

The process is straightforward. A mobility-impaired driver — such as a person with a disability or a pregnant woman — scans a QR code on a sticker or panel at a participating self-service station. The scan connects them by phone to an on-duty attendant, who then assists with fueling.

As of late June, 275 of Seoul's 390 gas stations — 70.5 percent — were self-service. As self-service has become the de facto standard, mobility-impaired drivers who struggle to operate fuel pumps or get out of their vehicles face significant structural barriers.

Once the expansion is complete, roughly one in two self-service stations in Seoul (53.1 percent) will offer the service. Drivers can find participating locations through the Smart Seoul Map and the Korea National Oil Corporation's Opinet website and app.

The city plans to monitor usage and satisfaction in partnership with the Korea Petroleum Quality & Distribution Authority, and will work to bring non-participating stations on board.

"With self-service stations now accounting for more than 70 percent of all stations, addressing the fueling difficulties faced by mobility-impaired drivers is a task we can no longer put off," said Jeong Sun-gyu, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Green Energy Division. "We will gradually expand the program to non-participating stations so that everyone can refuel without inconvenience."

The QR-based fueling assistance model is gaining traction beyond Seoul. Korea Expressway Corporation recently announced it would introduce a contactless QR call service at 218 expressway service stations operated by the central and local governments.

cook@heraldcorp.com