No Cash. Pass Cards or Cellular Phones for Paying Tolls

As early as in the latter of this year, drivers can pay for the highway toll by their credit cards or cellular phones. On June 22, 2002, Korea Highway Corporation (KHC) announced the introduction of electronic paying system to relieve congestion at the tollgates caused by paying in cash.

KHC plans to test-run the system for one year at the three main tollgates in and around Seoul such as Pangyu, Sungnam and Chonggye. Then it will fully implement the system nationwide. Under this system, tolls are automatically paid when drivers, entering and exiting highways, touch their mobile phones or credit cards on the reading machines located at the gates. Therefore, the passage time through gates will be 3-4 times shorted since it is no longer necessary to pull out the tickets or pay in cash.

Jin-Hup Song jinhup@donga.com