A study on equity in the public service distribution of the metropolitan
: Focused on 119 Firefighting Service and Public Library Service









Jin Kyu, Park

Department of Public Policy
The Graduate School
Pusan National University

Abstract

This study is motivated by the quest whether the public service the metropolitan provides is distributed to the service users in equitable way. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the achievement of a more equitable public service distribution by clarifying what type of patterns the diverse feature of public service exhibits in the process of the service distribution. Due to the physical limitation, it is not feasible to analyze all types of public services. Therefore, in this study, two public services that have the characteristics contrary to each other are subject to the analysis. As 119 Firefighting Service is categorized as one of area services operated by a single governing body within a certain jurisdiction, one of service features is generally to be provided in the direction from the service provider to the service user in person. On the other hand, the public library service can be categorized as one of the point services, as positioned at a certain point, having diverse operating bodies such as local governments and the education administration, it is provided in the way the service users pay a visit to the service providing institution. In this study, these public services in the contrasting forms are comparatively analyzed so that the equity deterrence factor may be reduced and supplemented in case the consistent pattern in the service distribution process is found, with an ultimate goal of contributing to a more equitable public service distribution.
More specific study purposes are as follows.
Firstly, it is measured how equitable the public library service and firefighting service the local governments provide are.
Secondly, it is clarified whether the public services the metropolitan provide have issues from the perspectives of the social equity.
Thirdly, the factors affecting the level of the public services the metropolitan provides are inquired.
Lastly, based on this study result, the policy implications related to equity on public service distribution in the metropolitan area are sought.
The public library service performance is measured by the individual satisfaction level, since it has a nature of targeting to fulfill an individual’s intellectual and psychological desires as one of developmental services. It is impossible to measure the satisfaction level by objective data, thus, a quality analysis through the survey and a quantitative analysis to measure the service input are proceeded together. As firefighting service is a type of protective service, intended to protect the human lives and properties, the objective data such as the life revival rate and the fire outbreak rate are used.
The analysis process is divided into inputs->activity->outputs->outcomes, so that equity can be measured per service distribution step. With regard to the public library service, the stage of inputs is the most important step to enhance the users’ satisfaction, namely, the outcomes of the service. On the other hand, while firefighting service uses the revival rate and the fire outbreak rate, the most important service distribution step is activity. With regard to firefighting service, the service arrival within 5 minutes is analyzed to be the most important activity. To be more specific, under the emergency situation, 5 minutes are directly linked to the life of a fire victim in a sense that if the CPR is not conducted within 5 minutes from the emergency, the likelihood of the victim’s life revival sharply plunges. The same logic applies to the fire outbreak. For example, 5 minutes after the fire outbreak, the scope of damage is expanding uncontrollably, the extinguishing work gets considerably worsened. Therefore, in the firefighting and the rescue in common, arrival of the service within 5 minutes is the most important part of the service.
When it comes to the analysis of equity, the focus of the study is to find out whether or not the discrimination in the process of distribution of the service exists. Also, assuming the discrimination exists, this study is trying to figure out that the nature of the discrimination is either systematic or incidental. In particular, the quest to clarify whether or not the discriminated service is given to the socially weak group of people in a systemic way is pursued. The theoretical background of this hypothesis is as follows.
First of all, there is Under-class Model which assumes that the public service is provided less in a discriminated way to the group of social, political, economically under-class. In other words, this model is trying to address the difference in terms of the service distribution level between the wealthy area and the less wealthy area.
Secondly, Ecological Model considers the indicators of the neighborhood conditions that could be marked by a more reasonable standard, such as economy and technology. This model views the service delivery reflecting physical, social, economic conditions. In this study, based on this model, whether the library site conditions, or the physical differences such as the size of the firefighting authorities’jurisdictional territories give rise to the difference in the service distribution is explored.
The third one is Bureaucratic Decision Rules Model. This model articulates that the service is provided according to the internal decision making rules of bureaucracy, free from the outside political influence or the unreasonable factors’ bearing thereon. On the ground of this model, the observance is made on whether the feature of the service providing institution creates the discrimination in the process of distributing the public service. In this study, it is observed and addressed whether the nature of the operating body could be the discrimination creating factors in the process of service distribution or not. In the event that the analysis result shows the irregular discrimination, this could possibly mean that the socially weak group may get the discriminated service or they may not, simply depending on the situation. In this case, the findings of discrimination occurrence does not conclusively determine that the socially weak group is discriminated in a systemic way in the service distribution process. In other words, outcome-wise, a certain area is provided with more services or less services, this may be caused by an unintended coincidence.

The analysis result based on the discussions above is as follows.

First of all, the discrimination based on Under-class Model was not found. Sometimes, it is shown that the wealthy area is provided with a better service, but there is also a case that a less wealthy area is provided with a better service. Overall, in the public library service, a less wealthy area is provided with a better service. As for the users’ satisfaction level, it is higher in a less wealthy area. It sometimes happens that insufficient service is provided to a less wealthy area, it was not found systematic. Therefore, it can be concluded that the systematic discrimination upon the socially weak group is not found with regard to the public library service and firefighting service.
Secondly, depending on the conditions of the site location, the users’ dispersion shows considerable differences. For various reasons, such as the land price, systematic differences are shown between the public library located in the suburban area and the one located in the central area. When the public library is located in the area blocked by the entry barriers such as mountains, sea, parks etc, the residents in the immediately adjacent administrative district frequently use the service. As for the public library which has a good accessibility without entry barriers, it shows a wide variety of users’ dispersion. In other words, depending on the geological and physical characteristics, there are considerable differences in terms of users’ dispersion. As for the firefighting service, in determining the jurisdictions reflecting the needs, the large district such as Kijang Kun or Kangseo Gu has a very extensive jurisdiction, considering the population spread and the number of firefighting targets. This works as one of the factors lowering the arrival rates within 5 minutes. Therefore, Ecological Model is acknowledged as an important factor in both public library service and firefighting service.
Thirdly, the firefighting service with a unified operating body achieves equity in a higher level in terms of service distribution than the public library service with the diversified operating body. As a result of measuring the equity of the service distribution, the firefighting service is analyzed to be equitable in all areas, on the other hand, the public library service is analyzed to show some inequity in all areas. While the public library service with the diversified operating body shows a systematic inequity, the firefighting service with the unified operating body shows a systematic equity. In fact, the diversified operating body does not seem to place a big importance in equity in terms of the service distribution, and the discrimination occurs incidentally or the high quality service is provided by chance, as outcomes of the service distribution. As for the firefighting service operated by the unified body, to boost the rate of the crucial activity of arrival within 5 minutes, service institution is deployed and the duty adjustment and cooperation are in progress at the Busan city level to achieve the goal. Consequently, BDR (Bureaucratic Decision Rules) Model is proved to be the important factor in improving equity in terms of the public service distribution. Fourthly, it is proved that public library users have a tendency not to visit the public library if the travel time takes longer than 30 minutes from their residence to the public library. Major transportations they use turn out to be walking and bus taking, the ratio to use their own car is 20% or so. Accordingly, based on the survey, it is predictable that deploying the public library in each unit that is reachable within 20 minutes travel time by walking or bus taking from their residence would bring about the best use rate.
On the ground of the discussions above, if suggestions can be made in terms of the direction of the policy implications to improve equity on the public service distribution, the first priority should be placed on the unification of the operating body with regard to the public library service. On the other hand, the public library service with diversified operating bodies show some inequity in all areas measured in this study. Having said that, diversification of operating bodies deters the communications among the administrative districts, leading to the overlapping of service deployment, and insufficient supply phenomenon, and it eventually functions as the source of unintended inequity. This shows not only a matter of equity, but also shows the inefficiency from the efficiency perspective. Also, in order to deploy the public library in every unit that allows users to travel within 20 minutes, duty adjustment and consultation among the administrative districts are necessary, but current systems do not allow those process due to each independent operating body’s interests and circumstances. Unification of the operating body requires the national consensus because the effort any one of the area makes does not suffice to make the change. As the public service exists for people, the decisions shall be made not from the perspective of the service provider, but from the service users.
Lastly, the firefighting service shows equity overall in terms of the service distribution, which does not necessarily mean the service quality is high. Even though the service distribution within the city of Busan seems equitable, the comparison with other cities tells differently. There are 16 administrative districts in Busan, and the number of fire stations is only 11, which makes it short by 5 stations, according to the standard that requires 1 station per 1 self-governing district. In comparison with other metropolitan cities, the fire station shortage is most serious in Busan. Therefore, it is meaningful to achieve the external equity as well as the internal equity, for the ultimately equitable service distribution.