Seoul City Disabled Call Taxi Usage Satisfaction Scores 91.1 Points... Waiting Time Reduced from 55 Minutes to 20 Minutes

User Satisfaction Survey Scores Improved from 88.7 in 2018 to 89.2 in 2019 and 91.1 in 2020
User-Centered Service Provided for Disabled Call Taxi, Full-Scale Expansion of New Disabled Call Taxi App Operation

Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 2nd that the satisfaction score for the disabled call taxi service reached 91.1 points, showing a significant improvement in user satisfaction. In particular, by increasing the number of disabled call taxi vehicles, the average waiting time was drastically reduced from 55 minutes to the 20-minute range over two years, greatly enhancing user convenience.

The city conducts an annual satisfaction survey targeting disabled call taxi users to measure satisfaction and identify future service improvement tasks. The evaluation criteria consist of service quality satisfaction, social satisfaction, and overall satisfaction.

The satisfaction survey results improved from 89.2 points in 2019 to 91.1 points in 2020, an increase of 1.9 points compared to the previous year. The main factor for this increase was the perceived satisfaction due to reduced waiting times and a higher intention to continue using the service.

However, since the top priority for improvement was also identified as reducing waiting times, Seoul plans to expand the number of leased taxis, which were operated at 50 vehicles annually, to 120 vehicles this year by adding 70 vehicles following last year’s increase in disabled call taxis. This year, a total of 740 vehicles will be operated, including 620 disabled call taxis and 120 leased taxis.

Seoul has established a plan to reduce the average waiting time annually from 55 minutes in 2019, to 30 minutes in 2020, and to the 20-minute range in 2021. The city is also aiming to improve transportation efficiency by separating the use of wheelchair and non-wheelchair disabled passengers. Among the 39,421 registered disabled call taxi users, 27,713 (70.3%) are wheelchair users, and 11,708 (29.7%) are non-wheelchair users. However, among the 35.2% of rides taken by non-wheelchair disabled users, only 11.3% use leased taxis, while the remaining 23.9% use specially equipped vehicles.

To address this, Seoul plans to expand the operation of leased taxis, which are exclusively for non-wheelchair disabled users, to 120 vehicles in 2021. The existing disabled call taxis (special vehicles) mainly serve wheelchair users, while leased taxis will be operated exclusively for non-wheelchair disabled users, aiming to increase the dedicated rate of leased taxis for non-wheelchair disabled users from the current 32% to 80%.

Additionally, Seoul City and the Facilities Corporation launched a new ‘Disabled Call Taxi’ app in December last year to resolve inconveniences with the existing call app. Key improvements include ▲providing estimated dispatch waiting times ▲simplifying the registration process ▲allowing guardian account registration, thereby enhancing accessibility to the disabled call taxi service.

The new call app was introduced in December last year, and during the monitoring period, improvements were made to increase the accuracy of dispatch waiting times and detailed location adjustment features. Full-scale operation is planned for March this year. The new disabled call taxi app is available for free download on Google Play and the App Store for easy use by anyone.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, stated, “We will continue meticulous management to provide convenient services to disabled call taxi users,” and added, “We will do our best to gather diverse opinions to further improve and enhance mobility services for the disabled.”

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