Staff Reporter
Public transportation hubs, such as subway stations and airports, and public institutions started a campaign for walking on the right, Thursday.
The campaign is a rehearsal for the “walking on the right” drive that will start in July 2010 nationwide, said the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
However, the hasty switch of the walking direction is causing a jumble among pedestrians, including the visually impaired.
Subway stations in Seoul have gone through or are currently changing the direction of escalators and posting informational signs to promote the campaign.
But guiding blocks with Braille for the blind and the visually-impaired are still leading them to walk on the left side.
“The guiding blocks are eyes for us. Unless the direction does change for the visually-impaired, we might bump into pedestrians,” said an official of the Korea Blind Union.
“The guiding blocks for the blind are regulated by separate laws and it is not included in this pilot campaign,” a Seoul Metro official said.
Some transfer stations, such as the Yeongdeungpo District Office Station on Lines 2 and 5, need to undergo an overhaul of facilities. At some places at these stations, areas for walking on the left and on the right coexist, causing confusion.
Pedestrians are also adapting to the new system.
Hong Shin-young, a university student, mistakenly walked into an escalator going the opposite direction at Hyehwa Station on Subway Line 4 while text messaging her friend, Tuesday.
“The person coming from the opposite direction looked at me wide-eyed and I backed up,” Hong said.
Some question the effectiveness of the drive.
“Seoul Metro has been campaigning for lining up two-by-two at escalators for a while, but it has not been very successful. I think similar things might happen to this campaign,” said Lee Sun-min, a 25-year-old office worker.
“At subway stations, some people walk on the left as they did before and the others walk on the right according to the campaign. Sometimes, I get stuck in the middle of people coming from both my left and right.”
“Whether right or wrong, we have been accustomed to walking on the left for the past decades,” said Kim Ki-bok of the Citizen Traffic Safety Association.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
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