Seoul City to Increase Late-Night Taxi Supply... Temporary Lift of Private Taxi Restrictions from the 16th

Taxi Demand Surges Up to 100% After Phased Daily Recovery... Special Measures to Alleviate Late-Night Ride Shortages
30% Decrease in Corporate Taxi Drivers Leads to 'Job Fair', Owl Bus Frequency Increased and New Routes Added to Distribute Demand

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] With the lifting of operating hour restrictions on restaurants and other businesses due to the phased return to normal life, taxi usage has surged, and late-night taxi demand has increased by up to 100%, intensifying the difficulty of getting a ride. In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching special measures to expand late-night taxi supply.

On the 15th, Seoul announced that starting from the 16th, the current three-shift system for private taxis will be temporarily lifted until January 1 of next year. This year-end lifting of the shift system is the first in two years since before COVID-19 in 2019, and the city expects about 2,000 additional taxis to be supplied through this measure.

Additionally, to increase the number of corporate taxi drivers, which has decreased by more than 30% since COVID-19, Seoul will hold a ‘Taxi Driver Recruitment Fair’ in early December, involving all 254 taxi corporations in the city. To disperse taxi demand, the late-night ‘Owl Bus’ service will be increased by 1 to 2 buses on each of the 8 routes, and three new temporary routes passing through areas with frequent taxi refusals such as Itaewon, Gangnam Station, Konkuk University Station, and Hongdae Station will also be operated.

The main points of Seoul’s special measures to alleviate late-night ride difficulties include lifting the private taxi shift system from 9 PM to 4 AM and administrative actions against unauthorized business suspensions, holding the corporate taxi driver recruitment fair, increasing and adding new late-night ‘Owl Bus’ routes, special crackdowns on taxi refusals such as selective passenger pick-up, and voluntary operation of taxi industry ride support teams.

Baek Ho, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “To resolve late-night ride difficulties during the phased return to normal life and year-end period, we plan to increase taxi supply by lifting the private taxi shift system and encourage the taxi industry’s self-regulation efforts. We will strive to ensure that these late-night ride relief measures are not just temporary year-end solutions but continue sustainably, and we ask for active cooperation from related industries and citizens.”

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