The Fate of the Postponed 'Tada Ban Law' Will Be Decided Today

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] The fate of 'Tada,' a rental car-based ride-hailing service, will be decided on the 6th. The ruling and opposition parties will present and discuss the amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act (Passenger Act), known as the 'Tada Ban Act,' at the plenary session that afternoon.

Originally, the ruling and opposition parties planned to vote on the Passenger Act amendment at the plenary session the day before, but the session was postponed by one day due to a breakdown caused by the rejection of the Internet Banking Act amendment.

Article 34-2 of the amendment stipulates that for tourism purposes, vehicles with 11 to 15 seats can be rented, but the operator can only arrange drivers if the rental period is six hours or more or if the rental and return locations are airports or ports. Accordingly, if the amendment passes the National Assembly plenary session on the 5th, 'Tada Basic' will become illegal after a grace period of one year and six months.

The amendment reflects the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's (MOLIT) revision. MOLIT added a clause to Article 49-2 of the amendment, which defines types of platform transportation businesses, stating "including cases where rental vehicles from car rental businesses are leased," thereby opening the door for businesses operating under the 'rental car' model. However, Tada must pay a contribution and obtain a platform transportation business license to continue operating under the current model.

Tada has announced it will suspend its Basic service. Park Jae-wook, CEO of VCNC, the operator of Tada, lamented, "A service that an entrepreneur and about 100 colleagues devoted nearly two years of their lives to has been shattered by a few words from MOLIT and some lawmakers."

He criticized the political sphere, saying, "When someone wielding a knife stands before you and you plead for your life, they replace the knife with a syringe the size of a knife and stab your heart. No matter how much you shout that whether it's a knife or a syringe, being stabbed in the heart means death, they force it through, saying the syringe is fine."

Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar, also said, "I received messages from several Tada drivers. They said they support Tada until the end and told me not to apologize," adding, "Minister Kim Hyun-mi of MOLIT and the government must take responsibility for the thousands of drivers who will lose their jobs."

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