SOCAR announced on the 1st that it has signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Interior and Safety, local governments in areas of population decline, and the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) to promote the inflow of residents into declining areas and revitalization of the local economy.
As the only private company participating in the agreement, SOCAR plans to establish transportation hubs such as SOCAR zones in the 89 areas of population decline designated by the Ministry of Interior and Safety and expand its mobility infrastructure. First, it will enter 46 new areas of population decline, including Ongjin County, Imsil County, and Cheongyang County, and promote the opening of new SOCAR zones. SOCAR zones will be expanded around transportation hubs such as KTX and bus terminals to optimize seamless mobility.
Key SOCAR zones related to areas of population decline will apply a 55% discount on lending fees until August next year. The discount applies not only to SOCAR zones within areas of population decline but also extends to SOCAR zones near transportation hubs in other regions with a high proportion of travel to areas of population decline, enhancing their usability. In addition, SOCAR plans to closely cooperate on joint promotion and marketing to activate tourism in areas of population decline and to discover tourism resources to increase the resident population in these areas.
SOCAR aims to focus on building a connected transportation system utilizing transportation hubs such as KTX and expanding tourism infrastructure. According to SOCAR data, 9 out of 10 'SOCAR-KTX bundled reservations' last year were made in non-capital regions. This usage pattern was also observed during visits to areas of population decline. It was recorded that 1 out of 3 SOCAR car-sharing instances in areas of population decline last year involved renting vehicles from SOCAR zones at transportation hubs like KTX and bus terminals.
Park Jin-hee, chief operating officer of SOCAR, emphasized, "Creating an environment where anyone can move freely at the moment of need is the starting point for revitalizing the local economy," and noted, "We will spare no effort to ensure that daily mobility can naturally continue in areas of population decline as well as anywhere across the country."