Gyeonggi-do, 'Postpones Taxi Fare Increase Within the Year'... Main Cause is Decrease in Labor Costs

Considering Next Year's Seoul Metropolitan Area Adjustment Situation, Reviewing Fare Adjustment

[Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter La Young-cheol] Gyeonggi Province has decided to postpone the taxi fare increase within this year, considering the spread of COVID-19 and the decrease in transportation costs.

The province stated on the 30th, "From April to early this month, we commissioned the Korea Industrial Economic Policy Institute, a professional cost estimation agency, to calculate and analyze this year's taxi transportation costs in Gyeonggi Province, and reviewed the results."

According to the province, the study results showed that the transportation cost per vehicle this year is 230,670 KRW, which is 6.37% (15,682 KRW) lower than 246,352 KRW in 2018.

This is attributed to the 'full management system' implemented since January last year and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a decrease in the average labor costs of transportation workers.

Accordingly, considering the consulting firm's opinion that transportation cost recovery is possible through improved operation rates under the current fare and rate system, as well as the government's public price stabilization policy, it was decided to postpone the fare increase within this year.

However, next year, factors such as rising fuel costs, inflationary pressures, the spread of COVID-19, environmental changes, and adjustments in the metropolitan area will be taken into account to supplement and adjust fares and rates.

A provincial official said, "We decided not to raise fares within this year after comprehensively considering the need for public price stabilization and the decrease in transportation costs," adding, "Since service improvement and better treatment of transportation workers are necessary, we will carefully assess these next year and review whether adjustments are needed."

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