Once cluttered with signage, Seoul subway stations are getting a cleaner look — and instead of repetitive announcements, classical music now drifts through the concourses.
Seoul Metro (president Kim Tae-gyun) is working to create a more comfortable and convenient subway experience through small but tangible changes that riders can feel in their daily lives. The goal is to fundamentally improve the station environment through incremental changes closely tied to how citizens actually use the system.
The most visible change has been to the physical station environment. Since last year, Seoul Metro has removed or replaced more than 13,000 fixtures in total — including 3,368 non-compliant or deteriorated wall attachments, 9,443 platform screen door notices, and 702 banners and display boards. The effort aims to organize informational and promotional materials throughout stations, reduce unnecessary clutter, and make essential information easier and faster to find.
The atmosphere inside stations is also being transformed. To reduce listener fatigue from repetitive public announcements, Seoul Metro has been running a "music in the station" program at 276 stations on lines 1 through 8 since December last year.
A prior survey of 426 citizens found that 80.3 percent said announcement improvements were needed, with 45 percent preferring music broadcasts as their top choice. Existing announcements had drawn persistent complaints — riders described them as "repetitively noisy" and said they felt like background noise.
The changes have been well received. Commuters have said their morning rides feel "much more relaxed" and that "the station atmosphere has improved," reflecting a lift in the overall rider experience.
Station maintenance has also been stepped up. Concourses, restrooms, entrance canopies, pole signs and walls — including hard-to-reach surfaces — have received intensive cleaning, and aging fixtures have been repaired, so riders notice a clean, comfortable environment from the moment they enter.
On top of the physical upgrades, Seoul Metro is expanding lifestyle-oriented services designed to ease everyday inconveniences. A lost-item home delivery service, launched July 20, allows customers to have items held at lost-and-found centers shipped by courier to any address of their choosing.
"Customer satisfaction starts not with grand changes but with the small differences people feel in the spaces they use every day," said Ma Hae-geun, head of Seoul Metro's operations division. "We will continue to actively reflect public feedback to create an even more comfortable and pleasant station environment, and to pursue service improvements that customers can experience firsthand."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
