Jaewoong Lee Emphasizes Coexistence with Taxi Industry: "If Tada's Profits Increase, Taxi License Prices Will Also Rise"

"Tada Premium Joins, Taxi License Demand Increases as Earnings Rise"

Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar (right), and Park Jae-wook, CEO of VCNC / Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar, who has raised criticism ahead of the National Assembly's discussion on the amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act, known as the 'Tada Ban Law,' has started embracing the taxi industry. The idea is that if many taxi drivers join the premium taxi call service 'Tada Premium' and earn high profits, the price of taxi licenses will also increase. Unlike 'Tada Basic,' which operates based on rental cars without taxi licenses, Tada Premium collaborates with drivers who hold taxi licenses and operates as a premium taxi service.

On the 24th, Lee stated on his Facebook, "The price of taxi license goodwill is naturally directly related to income," adding, "If drivers can earn twice as much as with existing mid-sized taxis, the goodwill price is likely to rise significantly, even if not exactly double." He also emphasized, "The best way to maintain the price of individual taxi licenses is not to block Tada, but to have many individual taxis join Tada Premium and maintain higher earnings."

Furthermore, he pointed out, "If 1,000 individual taxis join Tada Premium and their income increases by 1.5 to 2 times, the demand for taxi licenses will also increase," adding, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Tada ban bill aims to maintain taxi license prices by blocking Tada, but doing so makes it difficult for taxis, whose transport share is gradually decreasing, to increase income or maintain license prices." He continued, "Tada Basic can only operate 11-15 passenger vans, so demand for passenger cars inevitably falls to taxis," and added, "Expanding Tada Premium to 1,000 vehicles is the most realistic and best win-win plan."

With the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Legislation Committee) discussion on the amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act approaching, he criticized the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) strongly, saying, "Now is not the time for MOLIT to insist on passing the Tada ban law, but to create a bill that reflects what Tada does well in terms of 'platform workers' rights issues' and 'improving taxi drivers' service quality,' and to improve what Tada lacks." He added, "MOLIT should not cover up its failed taxi policies by banning Tada." The Legislation Committee is scheduled to hold a plenary session soon to discuss the amendment. MOLIT has repeatedly stated its commitment to processing the amendment regardless of the court's acquittal of Tada.

Meanwhile, since the amendment's approval is not yet confirmed, Tada has planned to prioritize expanding the Tada Premium business over the Tada Basic business. VCNC, the operator of Tada, has prepared a win-win plan with the taxi industry, agreeing to provide 5 million KRW per vehicle when taxi drivers and taxi corporations joining Tada Premium purchase new vehicles. Additionally, no platform fees will be charged for the first three months after service launch. According to Tada, inquiries from individual and corporate taxi drivers about joining Tada Premium have increased up to 10 times compared to before the court ruling on the 19th, when Tada was acquitted. A Tada official stated, "We plan to focus on necessary vehicle increases centered on taxis for the time being," and added, "We intend to actively implement the strategy to secure at least 1,000 Tada Premium operating vehicles, which has been promoted since last year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.