By Lee Hyo-sik
More subway trains and buses will be put into operation on Nov. 18, the day of the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) to help exam takers arrive at test centers on time, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday.
On the big test day, students with physical handicaps will be given priority in using a vehicle specifically designed for the disabled, while public workers at City Hall, 25 district offices and hundreds of affiliated organizations will delay working hours to begin at 10 a.m., one hour later than usual, in a bid to ease possible traffic congestion.
In cooperation with the police agency, the city also plans to clamp down on singing rooms and other entertainment establishments frequently visited by students to smoke, drink and engage in other delinquent activities after the exam ends.
Seoul City unveiled these and other measures to make the once-a-year test for university applicants proceed without a hitch.
First, 35 additional subway trains will run between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Thursday to more effectively handle the larger number of student passengers. Sixteen trains will also be on standby for emergency operation, with managers and engineers at each station required to come to work at 6 a.m., three hours earlier than usual.
More buses will be on the roads from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 15,000 individually-owned taxis, which are supposed to be off-duty, will be allowed to pick up passengers from 4 a.m. till noon. Under the law, individual taxi owners are obliged to take three days off per week.
About 800 vehicles owned by City Hall and district offices will be mobilized at major subway stations and bus stops to transport students to test centers.
Following the CSAT, Seoul City plans to crack down on entertainment joints in which students may engage in delinquent acts. Along with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and civic groups, the city will form a taskforce to check singing rooms, PC rooms and other places for illegally selling cigarettes and alcohol to students between 7 p.m. and midnight on the day of the exam.
It also plans to provide test takers with a range of educational and recreational programs to help them to celebrate finishing the exam in a more productive way.