National Subway Graphic: The Limited Edition NOT to be Missed!!

I love how Seoul Metropolitan Management found its creative side of portraying the social phenomenon at subways. First, let me get this straight, well..at times I did see couples hugging and kissing (although some would be blietzkrieg-like kiss). Not that I am naive or being hypocritical, but..yest...there are kids too in subways.:)  

and that's what prompted the Subway management to create this public awareness campaign ad.

what a great way to 'nudge' those couples:-) 

Then...the second edition that I like is also about how some people would just behave like the king of the subway..hehehe.:)

Well, some may not be aware of it..but the fact that some do exist....has prompted (once again) the Seoul Subway Management to come up with this brilliant idea of 'portraying' misbehaved passengers as gorilla or Kingkong. 

Then..what about those who sneaked out of the system...get on and off the subways without paying. I was alarmed to find this, too.

Some are just using the children card instead of adult-fare card. (so they say).

but...this is what makes it even more interesting...

these limited editions of National Subway Graphics are what keep me glued to wait and expect more 'insanely' creative ways of 'nudging' those kinds of people out there.

hmmm I hope I am not one of those...:) 

Bicycle Locker

Yep...you read it right. At first..I thought it was just another cabinet or any other lockers. It is not. It's a specially designed locker for bikes. Yes..anyone who comes and goes back and forth the subway and having to lock or store the bikes..they no longer need a long overdue locker coz this particular locker is a kind of modern-day bike lockers.

Just look at the boxes attached in between. 

There are instructions on how to operate or use the bicycle locker like this one. I tried to take a closer look at this but I refrained to.  

This locker room is at Hwarangdae station. I bet there are a bunch others like this one in any other subway station.

On weekends, lot of people are using their bikes to explore the city and I think this bicycle locker is deemed to have a great and multiple uses for the purpose of having fun.

Civil Affair Train!!! 365 Days A Year On The Train!!

Now there's something that not all carriages in every line of Seoul Subway could brag about. But this one surely can. Line 1 that connects the outskirts of Seoul where most of its inhabitants live (Gyeonggi Province) is the one I am talking about. I knew about this particular compartment back then..but I always did not take any notice until I really had time to take a look closer of what it is all about. 

Okay...this particular compartment is OFFICE on-the-GO. Yes..I call it this way. This is basically a government office ( I think ) on the train. The main goal of setting up this office on the train is to cater the need of anyone who does not have time to go to the governmental complexes. So...instead of 'waiting' for the 'customers (a.k.a. the civil), Gyeonggi-province government take a leap by cooperating with the Korail to set up one compartment and change it into an on-the-go office 365 days a year. 

But, first..let me take a look at one small booth in the compartment, I thought that it is also a section to help customers, but it's not. But..in some way..it DOES. It is actually a nursery booth where parents could change the diaper of their babies while on the train..or   mommies who need to breastfeed the baby could just go inside and use the booth. Cool, eh? 

Okay..back to the 민원전철 (minwonjeoncheol) or the civil service train! This compartment is divided into small booth or sections complete with officers in charge to help anyone who may want to ask any civil-related matters. Job interviews, job vacation, debt, health insurance, real estate-related issues, anything....I guess. The thing was that..it is a great idea in essence. People could just walk into the compartment and meet and talk to the person in charge and hope for the best of any solution they could come up with while ...they were going somewhere else.

Killing two birds with one stone? Anyway..

this is what I saw the other day on the train.

Salute to those who set up this idea.

Hope this indeed helps!!

Hmm..There's Something Wrong with This...^^

On May 22 I took a snap picture of seemingly an ordinary sight at subway station. We can see a signboard telling passengers the current time, the name of stations, the length of time before incoming subways arrive, and stuffs like that. 

But...I noticed one peculiar thing back then...

the train from 응암 (Eungam) would arrive at the station (where I was) in 

99 minutes!!!!!

There must be something wrong with this.

But..I just shrugged. Oh well...computer DOES glitch!!

Right?^-^

The Transformation of Seoul's Subway Tickets

Seoul has its first subway line back in 1974. Wow...it's as old as I am.^^ The other day I bumped into a very interesting ad (well, it's more like a public-service ad) issued by the authority of Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transportation itself. It tells about the transformation of tickets from its initial groundbreaking jubilee in 1974 up to the present. 

What intrigued me is the fact that the one made in 1974 is so captivating in that it has a colorful rendition of what it all started and looked like. 

I really wish I had one of these as collections.

Then in 1981 and 1886 it somewhat became simpler with less colorful touches.

But then...in 2004 up until 2009 with the coming of 'digital' age...^^ well, sort of...and I vividly remembered it since that's the time when I (once again) stepped into the doorstep of Seoul: back then..the Seoul tickets were printed on a T-Money kind of thing and also on mobiles.  Oh, wait..I also remembered the one made in 1999 since the first time I came to Seoul was back in 1998. So..it sort of a recollection of memories clamped into one ad.

That's what prompted me to 'take the picture' of this valuable ad.

Now...the interesting thing is the notion of what it'll be like in the future....

Maybe we can use our body or part of our body since we have each of us a chip ingrained or inserted into our nervous system.

Sounds so visionary but scary...at the same time.