Metro in the Autumn

Seoul Metro runs mostly underground but in some routes it also goes overground. Looking at the green line metro leaving the golden leaves behind and entering the station, I with it were a train to the coloured forest.

Seoul Metro ll

Every stop sign of Seoul Metro is written in three languages: Korean, English and Chinese. And the announcement made on the subway is spoken in both Korean and English. However, when it comes to informing the passengers some critical information, it is not always that script is recorded in English. A friend of mine told me his experience that he didn't understand the next stop would be the terminus. So he left alone for a short time after most of passengers got off the subway whilst a drunk man was lying asleep on the seat. It'd be taking a long time and not be so efficient to teach all the metro drivers English but, instead, when there is the announcement in Korean, some people speaking English can help foreigners who look confused by lost-in-interpretation, or foreigners also can ask some people around them what's going on.

Seoul Metro l

Seoul Metro has been in the big movement of change equipping itself with screen doors, electric bulletin board, LCD advertisement screens etc. One thing unchangeable is, however, that the metro should should place its biggest concern to the passengers.

Image Matters

Some of my Korean friends have told me that, on this blog, sometimes my point of view about Korea is quite sarcastic and thus they urged me to post some positive side about things in Korea. I don't intend at all to disappoint them, however, the impression I got from today's post made me uncomfortable. The illustration shows a man and a woman trying to get in the metro door shutting and apparently they are taking risk of being collided by the doors. The caption says "ONLY BECAUSE OF A FEW SECONDS... are you going to let your image be damaged?" The reason why I was upset was Seoul Metro's approach to arousing people's attentions to a certain way of boarding. It should have been guided in the matter of causing danger or injury, not of impairing your image.


Today, I am tagged by Don in Rotterdam, one of my favourite daily blogs, and the rule to play is to list eight random things about myself that you do not know. So here comes mine.

1. I haven't gone clubbing for more than four months.
2. My favourite football players are Thierry Henry and Arjen Robben.
3. I don't like chocolate.
4. I love Dutch cheese.
5. I want to live in Ireland once again.
6. My current goal is to take the opportunity to go to Europe next spring.
7. I need multi-vitamin tablets.
8. I have a tattoo on my lower back.

Queuing at the Platform of Metro

Seoul Metro advises the passengers to queue in four lines at each platform due to the huge number of commuters during the rush hour, and thus these green footstep stickers are kind of guidance.

Metro

This is a sign pole of metro station, Jonggak where I stop every working day for work. The colour in the circle indicates the number of each line. The photo is a bit blurry because of a strong rainstorm. We'll be having a lot of rain all weekend and also Typhoon Nari.

Seat To Be Yielded

In Korean metro, on each side of a carriage are there seats for the disabled, senior citizens and pregnant women. Though you can take the seat while it is not taken, you are advised to yield it to those people who do need to be seated on the metro. And I found an additional sticker below which aimed at emphasis on caring for pregnant women who are bearing a life and love.

Underground Branding

As for the cities having underground, except Seoul, I have visited Paris, Berlin, Munich and London. And I've recently found there are a couple of different things between our capital city and the rest, which is that the underground stations in Korea call a subway entering, its destination and a safety warning both in Korean and English. In addition, until I last went to those European cities, I hadn't seen the underground branding like the one on the photo. This ad is about Visit Year Kyeongbuk 2007, located in the southeast of Korea, where there are lots of cultural heritage of Silla, one of the ancient countries on the peninsula, from 57 BC to AD 935.

Seoul Metro 서울메트로

On 22nd May, Seoul Metro operating the underground line no. 1 to 4 announced that the total number of passengers who have used these lines since the first nine stations of line no. 1 were built have reached 30 billion. This number means that the whole population of about 10 million in Seoul have used 3,000 times on the average.

Seoul underground has line no. 1 to 8 and additionally a couple of arterial subway lines. Currently, line no. 9 is under construction. Seoul underground used by 3.97 million passengers a day is like a blood vessel of Seoul as Metro of Paris.

The station on the photo is Jonggak in line no. 1, which I use for commuting during weekdays, and people are waiting for the underground after work.

지난 5월 22일, 지하철 1~4호선을 관리하는 서울메트로는

1974년 8월 15일 1호선 9개역을 개통한 이래로

수송인원 300억명을 돌파했다고 발표했다.

이 수치는 인구 천만명의 서울인구 1인당

평균 지하철을 3,000번을 이용한 꼴이라고 했다.

서울의 지하철은 1호선부터 8호선까지 있고,

그 외에도 추가 간선이 있고 현재 9호선이 공사중이다.

하루 평균 397만명이 이용한다는 서울 지하철은

빠리의 메트로만큼 서울의 혈관이라 할 만 하다.

사진을 찍은 곳은 평일에 내가 매일 출퇴근을 하는 1호선 종각역의 퇴근 풍경이다.

New Pepsi 새로운 펩시

First of all, I have to say I have nothing to do with Pepsi. Pepsi has recently brought new package design and I'm curious what Pepsi's challenge will lead to. This photo was taken on the underground and I think the idea of hanging the can on the metal strap of handles is quite interesting. How did they do that, by the way?

우선 난 펩시와는 아무 상관 없는 사람임을 밝히는 바이다.
최근에 펩시는 새로운 패키지 디자인을 들고 나왔는데,
펩시의 도전이 어떤 결과를 가져올지 궁금하다.
이 사진은 지하철 내에서 찍은 것인데,
손잡이의 금속 연결 부분에 캔을 달아놓은 아이디어가 기발해보인다.
그나저나 저걸 어떻게 달았을까?