Side streets and alleys in crowded residence zones of Seoul and other large cities are packed with parked cars it was reported Friday. Over the last decade, the number of tenement houses and multiple residence houses grew explosively, and the consequent increase in the number of cars have turned the alleys and side streets into parking lots. The number of multiple residence houses mushroomed since the early 1990's, initially led by the government. In Seoul, for instance, the number of these houses rose from 48,000 in 1990 to 128,000 in 1992 and to 204,000 in 1997.
These are mostly crowded in redevelopment area such as Eunpyong, Seodamun, and Mapo. Since it was stipulated by law to secure only one parking lot for every 15m2 until 1997, many point out that the current parking lot problem was more than expected. For example, a multiple-residence house for six households with 50m2 each, had only to secure parking spaces for two cars. Obviously, this led to "parking space war" and fire trucks often had to struggle to reach the fires.
Kim Kuk-rae of Yangchon fire department said that there have been a number of occasions where his staff couldn't get fire trucks through the side streets. The biggest cause for such a disorderly car parking is the exponential increase in the number of autos. As of end of last year, 2.44 million autos were registered to Seoul, however, total parking facilities can only cover 1.65million vehicles.
In the case of residence zones, only 48% have adequate parking. A city official says that the number of cars increases by 5,000 a month, and therefore the situation will only get worse with the passage of time. Apparently, there is also a problem with parking policies. Both the US and the UK suppress the increase of cars by regulating all cars parked on areas other than official parking lots.
In Korea, however, parking on side street and alleys is legal. Activist Moon Seung-gun of the Green Transportation Movement said that the discussion to implement parking registration system started in 1991, but still remains unsolved. The problem is constantly growing as the authorities are seeking only quick-fixes rather than adopting long to midterm measures.
(Na Jee-hong willy@chosun.com)
