Seoul City to launch the nation's first 'Safe Return Home Taxi Service' utilizing Smart CCTV

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it plans to launch a "Safe Return Home Taxi Service" for all 70,000 Seoul taxis this year to secure the safety of taxi users during the nighttime.

The "safe return home taxi service" has been designed to automatically transmit related information such as taxi boarding and getting off time as well as the taxi’s information to guardians and integrated control centers in 25 districts.

To increase the safety of citizens' taxi use, the project is being carried out with a budget of 350 million won as the first new project nationwide.

In particular, if an emergency occurs while using a taxi, the police will be dispatched in response to the emergency notice of the CCTV control centers and their residing police officers.

The Safe Return Home Taxi Service will be operated in real-time in connection with the Seoul Metropolitan Government's 24-hour smart safe return home service, the Ansimi App.

The "Ansimi App" is a 24-hour safe return home app that connects 60,000 CCTVs installed throughout Seoul to monitor users returning home safely through the CCTV Integrated Control Centers and support police dispatch for emergency cases.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects to relieve the anxiety of taxi users in the nighttime by monitoring the safe return home status with smart CCTVs installed throughout the city.

The Ansimi app is currently being used by 115,340 members after 185,514 downloads.

In June 2019, a man in his early 50s approached a female victim in her 30s in Eunpyeong-gu and fled after obscene acts, and was arrested in 10 minutes at the scene with a citizen's report on the Ansimi app.

The Safe Return Home Taxi Service automatically sends taxi-related information to designated contacts such as guardians when citizens operate the Ansimi app when riding a taxi.

When a user gets into a taxi, the taxi boarding and getting off information and taxi number are automatically sent to the integrated control center through the ICT of the taxi payment machine without any action. This information is also delivered to guardians and can be checked in real-time.

In a survey of 2206 citizens conducted in October last year to improve the function of the safety app, 86.4% of the respondents said that the safe return home taxi service would be helpful.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will recruit an institution that will carry out the "Seoul City Ansimi Improvement Project" until April 26 to establish the "safe return home taxi service."

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety completed preliminary consultations in February, followed by a contract review and task review committee in March, and a bidding announcement is underway this month to select a project implementation agency.

After five months of the business period after selecting a business operator, a safe return home taxi service will be established, and the service will be operated from November after a pilot operation period.

Kim Sun-soon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Women and Family Policy Division, said, "We will establish a safe return home taxi service within this year so that all Seoul citizens can use taxis at night without any anxiety or fear."

Reported by Smart City Today