South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom launched Wednesday a smartphone application aimed at helping address the chronic problem of parking space shortage.
The company said it has released the Tmap Parking app to help users locate parking lots. Based on its navigation app Tmap, the service notifies drivers about available parking spaces nationwide in real time.
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Users can also purchase parking tickets via SKT’s parking app before parking at designated spaces. The service is currently available at 208 parking lots, which agreed to work with SKT and local security firm ADT caps for the service.
“We are trying to alleviate the burden of finding parking spaces for drivers,” said Lee Jong-ho, who heads the mobility business division at SKT. “Drivers can find parking lots more easily, while owners can manage the spaces better.”
According to 2018 statistics from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 2.7 million drivers were fined for illegal parking by authorities. The Samsung Traffic Research Institute estimated that social costs of 4.9 trillion won ($4.1 billion) were incurred by illegal parking in 2016. (
jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)
