Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix

The project has been in the air for more than a year but it's now official: Yonsei-ro, the street connecting Yonsei University with Sinchon Station, will be the first one in Seoul to ban private cars.

Only bicycles and small public buses will be allowed (not to mention of course emergency vehicles). Taxis will only be allowed between midnight and 4 A.M. Two time slots are opened for business purposes like deliveries (10-11 AM, 3-4 PM), but some adaptations are already considered, and that could turn quickly messy if no clear rules are applied. In any case, the speed limit is reduced to 30 km/h.
 
Some roadwork is planned, in particular to alleviate the usual bottlenecks along Seongsan-ro (for instance, you can tell a V.I.P. has died when there's a huge queue in front of Severance Hospital). And at the southern end of Yonsei-ro, the traffic coming from the Southeast (Baekbeom-ro) will now be able to turn directly to the left towards Seogang Bridge (Seogang-ro) at Sinchon Rotary.

Of course, congestions shall diminish even more spectacularly thanks to the newly resurrected Seobu Line (see "Seoul Light Rapid Transit Back On Tracks" and a focus I was supposed to finish Tuesday on new railway projects - coming up soon!). Reminder: the future line between Eunpyeong-gu and Gwanak-gu will pass by Sinchon Station and create a new station right in front of the university.
 
So good news for pedestrians, cyclists, and more good news for a neighborhood that badly needed some a couple of years ago (see "Sinchon reloaded - Sinchon Global Zone"**). Again, the success of a neighborhood relies a lot on the relevance of its transportation system, and if this Yonsei-ro project will probably require some fine tuning, it marks, combined with the new subway line, a move in the right direction.

Now that Sinchon seems to be regaining momentum, one can envision a more balanced dialog with Hongdae area. 


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* "버스, 자전거만 통행 가능합니다" (Seoul.go.kr 20130801)
** where I also suggested to connect the two "Sinchon Station" (Subway Line 2 and Gyeongui Line), which were less than 500 m apart. This new Yonsei University Station will be twice closer to the train station...

More room(s) for Seoul students

City officials have decided to recycle part of their real estate for students : Seoul will build residences with a focus on sites near universities (within a 1 km radius), preferably stretching over 700 square meters. 20,000 units are planned.

Typically, 142 rooms will be created at Yonsei University's North Gate, facing existing Yeonhui-dong facilities. Note that Yonsei itself has recently renovated parts of its residences and launched new projects, including a cancer treatment center for its Severance Hospital.

A great portion of the 'one-room' market is provided by individuals who sometimes split their own homes into tiny cells, cramming as many as possible. Raising the standards is good for the image of a country where, as we saw earlier, the number of Foreign students has been multiplied by 30 over the past decade.

Speaking of education and budget issues : scheduled for August 24, the 'free meal' referendum is, as expected (see "Seoul free school lunch referendum (continued)"), getting trickier by the day :
- polls show a large majority against the populist "free for all" system, but overruling the council vote would result in a technical delay that makes the choice less clear : one one hand, free lunches for all elementary school students from 2011 and all middle school students from 2012 (according to the council vote), and on the other, a system focused on low revenue households to be implemented step-by-step by 2014.
- the recent tragic summer floods (see "Climate Change in Korea") logically caught all the spotlights and put more pressure on the administration

To be continued...

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Kim Dae-jung - The Commander Statue

Tragic year for former Korean Presidents : today, pneumonia eventually claimed KIM Dae-jung (1998-2003) a few months after his successor ROH Moo-hyun (2003-2008) committed suicide*.

Korea's first Nobel laureate had been treated for over one month at the Severance Hospital, and when his fate seemed sealed, all former foes paid him a visit to "make peace" with a man whose disparition was bound to spark a new wave of criticisms on their own past.

Most notable stars of this strange "Sunshine Policy", 3 presidents : CHUN Doo-hwan has already been judged, KIM Young-sam still struggles to balance his own legacy, but LEE Myung-bak is about present time, history in the making.

And KIM Dae-jung was particularly vocal against him. Actually, his very last public breaths were to denounce repeated attacks on democracy, particularly following the disparition of ROH Moo-hyun (see "A Yellow Sea for Roh Moo-hyun").

At least for the weeks to come, KIM Dae-jung shall stand as an embarrassing "Commander Statue" for a Don Juan already struggling to reconquer public opinion.


* See "Roh Moo-hyun follows Pierre Beregovoy".

ADDENDUM 20090819

Kim Dae-jung family designated Kim Young-sam as head of the organization for the tribute to the deceased. Now that's Sunshine Policy !!!