Seoul City to Conduct 'Kakao Taxi Survey' Jointly with Taxi Industry at Least Twice a Year

Accumulating Objective Data to Improve Citizen Inconveniences Such as Gollataewugi, Shared with Taxi Industry and Others

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 7th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will conduct a platform taxi survey more than twice a year in collaboration with the taxi industry to establish a citizen-centered taxi usage culture.

Seoul City aims to accumulate objective data to identify citizen inconveniences by periodically and continuously conducting a Kakao Taxi survey in cooperation with the taxi industry, following the partial confirmation of passenger selection behavior due to destination display on 'Kakao Taxi,' which accounts for 90% of the platform taxi market, through Seoul City's survey. The survey results will also be shared with the taxi industry.

In addition to undercover evaluator (mystery shopper) style investigations on passenger selection and call favoritism, on-site surveys targeting taxi drivers and passengers will be conducted to directly understand the operation and usage status of platform taxis in the field.

Since the launch of Kakao Taxi in 2015, the culture of using platform taxis via smartphone calling apps has greatly expanded and has now become the basic method of taxi use. However, the system that displays the passenger's destination to the taxi driver effectively encourages passenger selection, causing inconvenience to citizens. Furthermore, the taxi industry points out that Kakao abuses its monopoly position to engage in unfair practices and has continuously demanded stronger supervision from Seoul City.

Seoul City will also continue to push for amendments to the Passenger Transport Service Act, which it has consistently requested from the central government, including the non-display of destinations for platform taxis, the establishment of business improvement orders for intermediary operators, delegation of the authority for business improvement orders to provincial governors, and the separation of franchise and intermediary businesses.

Baek Ho, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Transportation Office, said, “We will accumulate objective data to identify citizen inconvenience factors through continuous surveys,” and added, “We will actively strive to ensure that platform taxis provide fair and convenient services centered on citizens.”

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