Franchise Taxi Era... Makgeolli Taxi Surpasses 10,000 Vehicles Nationwide

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] As the mobility industry is being reorganized around 'franchise taxis,' KST Mobility announced on the 25th that the number of franchise taxi contracts for Macaron Taxi has surpassed 10,000 nationwide.

A franchise taxi refers to an existing taxi company paying a commission to use a brand and other services. The amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act passed in March classified mobility platform businesses into three types: transportation, franchise, and brokerage. 'Transportation' refers to rental car-based ride-sharing services, 'franchise' is a business that contracts with taxi companies to provide standardized quality, and 'brokerage' connects taxis through applications (apps) and other means.

Macaron Taxi operates 3,670 vehicles in Seoul, 2,850 in Daegu, and about 1,470 in Ulsan. Currently, the Macaron Taxi transportation franchise business areas cover 10 regions nationwide, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, Daegu, Ulsan, Sejong, and Jeju.

The number of taxis belonging to taxi associations in various regions nationwide cooperating with KST Mobility is about 120,000, accounting for approximately 47.4% of the total number of taxis nationwide (about 251,000).

KST Mobility plans to launch various franchise taxi services in the future.

In October, it will launch 'Macaron Cash (tentative name),' a dedicated reward point system for Macaron Taxi. Through Macaron Cash, customers will be able to use points to pay for taxi fares or pay for service products linked with various brands.

Additionally, eco-friendly taxis called 'Macaron Eco,' premium taxis 'Macaron S,' and business taxis for companies 'Macaron Biz (tentative name)' are also scheduled to be introduced in the second half of the year.

Lee Haeng-yeol, CEO of KST Mobility, said, "With 10,000 franchise taxi contracts, we have established the first foundation to steadily promote mobility innovation. By the end of this year, we aim to secure 20,000 franchise taxis and 1 million subscribers, continuously launching diverse and high-quality services to build a mobility platform that satisfies both customers and the taxi industry."

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