Busan City announced a temporary suspension of the self car-free day system from July 29 until August 9 to provide convenience during the summer vacation period. Awesome, but what is the self car-free day system?
With some (a lot) of help I dug into what the system is, and why someone would apply for it. It turned out to be beneficial for people like me, who have a car but rarely use it, or for people who have set days that they don’t use their car.
What is Busan’s Car-free Day System?
Busan encourages residents to participate in a no-driving day. On a designated weekday participants refrain from driving their cars from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The goal is to:
- Alleviate traffic congestion. The total cost of traffic congestion in the seven major cities is 25.6 trillion won, accounting for 2.9% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)
- Reduce automobile exhaust fumes, fostering a cleaner, low-carbon, green city. Korea ranks 9th in the world in Carbon Dioxide emissions.
- Save energy in order to actively cope with the rapid and prolonged rise in international oil prices.
Personal Benefits for Participating
- 10% tax reduction on automobile tax
- 50% discount in public parking lots
- 20% discount in residential parking lots
How Does It Work
When you sign up, you will choose which day of the week you want to participate. You will receive a sticker within a couple of days. Attach the sticker to the windshield in front of the driver's seat in the car. You have to make and upload 3 pictures to prove the sticker is attached to the car you signed up with.
The sticker contains a chip that tracks your car's movement to ensure you do not drive on the designated day. You can miss up to four designated days annually without penalty. The chip is also scanned at parking garages to apply the discount.
If the sticker is removed it damages the chip and the participation is automatically canceled. You have to return the sticker if the participation is canceled or if you sell the car to someone else.
I decided to participate in the car-free day system. We’ve all experienced Busan rush-hour, when it takes over an hour to drive a couple kilometers. And with the planet warming up rapidly - it feels great to get a 10% automobile tax reduction. See ya.
