Busan is good

Seats only for pregnant women arranged

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In an effort to raise its low birthrate, the Busan Metropolitan Government will designate bus and subway seats for exclusive use by pregnant women starting next month.

The government will secure two or three seats for pregnant women among the seven or eight seats already designated for senior citizins and the disabled. Also Busan will add “pregnant women” to the current subway notice reserving seats for “for senior citizens and the disabled."

A city government official said that pregnant women are reluctant to sit at seats reserved for the elderly and handicapped because they are not specifically mentioned as eligible.

“Our plan doesn't mean that Busan citizens have denied their seats to pregnant women so far. Our purpose is to enlighten people that the low birthrate is a really serious problem and to encourage people to have babies,” said Kim Che-won, a city transportation department official.

Busan has had the lowest birthrate among Korea's urban centers for the last six years.

The city currently runs 2,613 buses on 168 routes and operates 121 subway trains on three lines. The plan will cost some 10 million won, about 6 million won for buses and 4 million for the subway.

“Even though this is a small-scale plan, we will use it to launch more plans to fight the falling birthrate,” said Choi Gi-won, deputy director of the women's policy division.

The source of news : Korea.net August 29, 2006