No. 197: Ttareungi family pass extended to grandparents and legal guardians

No. 198: Prototype and testing spaces to count as research facilities

No. 199: Seven types of civil complaints now accepted by mail

City says it will keep addressing burdens felt by residents and businesses

Seoul's public bicycle service Ttareungi. [Herald DB]
Seoul's public bicycle service Ttareungi. [Herald DB]

Grandparents and legal guardians will soon be able to sign up for Seoul's Ttareungi family bicycle pass, prototype and testing spaces at the Magok industrial complex will qualify as research facilities, and seven types of civil complaints will be accepted by mail — changes the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Tuesday as part of its latest round of regulatory reforms.

The city said it had eliminated three regulations that residents and businesses had found burdensome in daily life, focusing on rules that no longer fit the current lifestyle and industrial environment or imposed unnecessary time and cost.

The three reforms cover the expansion of eligible guardians for the Ttareungi family pass, the recognition of prototype manufacturing and technology demonstration spaces as research facilities, and the addition of mail-in filing for seven categories of civil complaints.

Reform No. 197 broadens who qualifies as a guardian under the Ttareungi family pass. Going forward, children living with grandparents, legal guardians or other court-appointed representatives will be able to use the pass alongside their actual caregiver.

Seoul launched its public bicycle service Ttareungi in 2015. In 2025, the city introduced the family pass, allowing children under 13 to ride with a guardian's consent. Eligibility was limited, however, to cases where the guardian was a parent listed as the household head and shared the same registered address as the child. As a result, children raised by grandparents, children whose parents lived at a different address, and those under the care of a legal guardian were sometimes shut out despite having a real caregiver, because they could not meet the documentation requirements.

To fix this, the city plans to introduce a supplementary verification process in the second half of this year, in cooperation with the Seoul Facilities Corporation. Applicants will be able to submit supporting documents at the corporation's customer service centers and other designated counters to register for the family pass.

Reform No. 198 allows prototype manufacturing and technology demonstration spaces to be recognized as research facilities.

Under the previous management plan for the Magok General Industrial Complex, companies in the industrial facility zone were required to designate at least 50 percent of their total floor area as research facilities. The problem was that "research facilities" had been interpreted narrowly to mean laboratories used directly by research staff, leaving out spaces used to turn research results into products or to verify technologies. As a result, areas set aside to meet the mandatory ratio were often operated as a formality or left empty.

In response, the city amended the complex's management plan on July 30, allowing spaces used to commercialize research and development outcomes — including prototype manufacturing and technology demonstration — to count as research or ancillary facilities for up to 20 percent of total floor area. The eligible companies were also expanded from small and medium-sized enterprises to all tenants. The city said it expects the change to give companies more flexibility in how they use their space and to strengthen Magok's role as an integrated research and manufacturing hub.

Reform No. 199 adds a mail-in option for seven categories of civil complaints handled by the city. Residents and business operators seeking to reissue licenses or report a suspension or closure of business will no longer need to visit a government office in person.

Previously, those seven categories — including certificate reissuance and suspension or closure filings — required in-person visits, meaning applicants had to travel to the relevant office just to submit a single document.

The city has added a mail-in filing option for all seven categories, to take effect in the second half of this year. Applicants may submit their application forms and required documents by registered mail; where a fee applies, it should be included with the mailing and will be confirmed upon receipt.

Jo Wan-seok, the city's director of regulatory innovation planning, said the reforms "correct areas where outdated rules placed unnecessary burdens on residents and businesses, improving convenience for everyone."


ikson@heraldcorp.com