Everyday habits earn citizens rewards that flow into local merchant sales, building a community grounded in sharing and cooperation
The city of Daejeon announced Wednesday the launch of its "Boram Mileage" service, a program that turns everyday habits into rewards for citizens while channeling benefits toward sales at local small businesses.
Boram Mileage awards points for daily activities such as walking, checking in at designated spots, and using public transportation. Citizens can convert the mileage they accumulate into Ontong Daejeon cash under set criteria and spend it at local affiliated stores. The structure lets residents build up rewards through their daily routines while also supporting the sales of small local merchants when they use those rewards.
The project will run as a pilot for 100,000 participants. Applications open Thursday through the Ontong Daejeon app and will close once the target number of participants is reached. Even existing Ontong Daejeon users must separately apply to take part in Boram Mileage. Details on how points are earned for each activity, accumulation limits, and cash-conversion criteria are available in the app's guidance section.
The city plans to roll out eligible activities in stages this year, starting with walking, attendance check-ins and public transportation use. It will then add the use of public facilities once operational preparations are complete. Officials will comprehensively review citizen participation, user feedback, operational performance and fiscal costs from the pilot to refine how the program runs. The city plans to expand it next year so that more citizens can take part.
The range of qualifying activities will gradually widen to include volunteer work and carbon-neutrality practices. The idea is to encourage voluntary citizen participation by rewarding actions that help neighbors and improve the community, while strengthening a community foundation built on everyday sharing and cooperation.
"Boram Mileage is a key service of the Ontong Daejeon 2.0 citizen livelihood-economy platform, which connects citizen participation, policy benefits and the local economy," said Mun In-hwan, director of Daejeon's Bureau of Public Livelihood and Economy. "By recognizing the value of healthy habits and public-interest activities and supporting sustained participation, we will develop this into a service where citizens' everyday actions become a benefit for themselves and a source of strength for their neighbors and community."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
