'KakaoT, Banban Taxi, i.M Taxi'... Platform Intermediary Business Registration

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 18th that three operators?Kakao Mobility (KakaoT), Konatus (Banban Taxi), and Jin Mobility (i.M Taxi)?have registered as platform intermediaries under the revised Passenger Transport Service Act.

Platform intermediary services refer to services that mediate passengers and transport vehicles using transportation intermediary platforms such as taxi-hailing apps. Although these services have been operating without legal grounds until now, under the new Passenger Transport Service Act enforced from April 8, platform intermediaries can register with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and must report the brokerage fees charged to passengers to the Ministry.

Kakao Mobility provides services such as regular mid-sized taxi calls, premium taxi calls, large van taxi (Venti) calls, and luxury taxi (Black) calls through its intermediary platform KakaoT. According to the reported details, no separate brokerage fees are charged for regular taxi (mid-sized), large van taxi (Venti), and luxury taxi (Black) calls, as before.

Smart calls incur brokerage fees ranging from 0 to 3,000 KRW depending on supply and demand conditions, and premium taxi calls (0 to 5,000 KRW) and corporate member exclusive services (Plus, 0 to 22,000 KRW) are also planned to be operated.

Konatus offers mid-sized taxi regular calls and voluntary ride-sharing intermediary calls (Banban calls) through its intermediary platform Banban Taxi. No brokerage fees are charged for mid-sized taxi regular calls as before, while brokerage fees of 2,000 to 3,000 KRW, applied under the ICT regulatory sandbox demonstration exception, continue to apply for Banban calls.

Jin Mobility provides large van taxi (i.M Taxi) call services in the Gyeonggi region through its intermediary platform i.M. Brokerage fees ranging from 0 to 3,000 KRW are charged for i.M Taxi calls depending on taxi demand and supply conditions.

The Ministry explained, "If platform intermediary services become more active, consumers will be able to more easily call taxis using various platforms according to their preferences via smartphones, and it is expected to reduce issues such as ride difficulties during taxi shortages at night and ride refusals."

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