Hybrid Taxis to Help Keep Seoul's Air Clean

Toyota's Prius hybrid taxis will start plying the streets of Seoul in mid-December. Toyota Korea on Thursday said the carmaker will deliver a dozen Prius taxis in mid-December, with another 30 booked for delivery later.

The taxis were launched on Aug. 20, but delivery took longer than expected because of the time required to re-spray them in the requisite colors and fix the components.

Prius taxis are expected to take some time to establish themselves here over the cheaper LPG taxis. A Prius taxi costs around W26 million (US$1=W1,116), up to W10 million more than the LF Sonata, the most common kind of taxis here.

Toyota started mass production of the Prius in 1997 and has sold a total of 3 million units around the world. The taxi versions can be found on the streets of Austria, Croatia, Japan, Singapore and the U.S.

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Seoul's Vital Statistics at a Glance

An average of 230 babies were born and 115 people died every day in Seoul last year. The average age of Seoul citizens in 2013 was 39.7.

The population in education aged six to 21 dropped by about 300,000 from 1.94 million or 19 percent of the population of Seoul in 2008 to 1.69 million or 16.7 percent last year.

The number of elementary schoolchildren plunged by 164,000 or a whopping 25.9 percent to 469,000 during the same period.

Nevertheless, the number of elementary schools increased from 578 in 2008 to 597 in 2013.

That meant the number of children per class fell from about 70 in the 1980s to just 15.8 recently.

There were 1.17 million elderly people in the capital last year, accounting for 11.2 percent of the total population. One in five elderly people or 21.7 percent lives alone. Seven of 10 single elderly people are women, probably because women live longer than men.

Meanwhile, consumer prices rose about two times over the last 20 years. Bus fares rose four times.

There were 3.55 million houses in Seoul last year, recording a 97.5 percent housing supply rate -- up 50,000 houses, or 1.4 percent on-year.

An average of 7.18 million Seoul citizens use subways and 4.5 million take buses every day.

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