Seoul City to Enhance Late-Night Taxi Convenience... Increasing Fleet to 5,000 Vehicles

Following the lifting of the subtitle on the 20th, additional measures will be prepared... Increasing supply in both personal and corporate taxis with 3,000 more vehicles
'Late-night exclusive taxis' operating vehicles increased by 2,700+... Corporate taxi shifts changed from daytime to nighttime, increasing by 300 vehicles+

Late-night exclusive taxi

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 4th that it will expand the number of late-night exclusive taxis to 2,700 and increase the supply to 3,000 by changing the operation shifts of corporate taxis, thereby improving the convenience of taxi use during late-night hours.

Currently, ‘late-night exclusive taxis’ operate only during late-night hours as a separate ‘night-only’ shift to ensure a stable supply of taxis during late-night hours. They operate separately from the personal taxi three-shift system (Group A, B, C). While the existing three-shift system operates two days followed by one day off, the ‘late-night exclusive taxis’ operating separately from the three-shift system are managed under a special shift system to promote late-night supply.

Accordingly, to expand supply during late-night hours, the city will immediately implement a system improvement to advance the start time of the existing ‘late-night exclusive taxi’ operation from 9 PM to 5 PM, extending the operation time by 4 hours. By expanding operating hours, the profit structure will improve, and by encouraging personal taxi operators to join the ‘late-night exclusive taxi’ system, the current number of about 2,300 operating vehicles will increase by 2,700, raising the target number of operating vehicles to 5,000.

In addition, to facilitate smooth inflow into the ‘late-night exclusive taxi’ system, the city will also promote the allowance of shift changes to late-night exclusive taxis for personal taxis at any time. Taxis operating on weekdays will be able to immediately move to the late-night shift, which has a higher transportation revenue ratio, thereby broadening the choices for operators.

With the 4-hour extension of the ‘late-night exclusive taxi’ operating hours, it is expected that the inflow of personal taxi drivers under 50 years old will increase. Given the noticeable reluctance of personal taxi drivers to operate late at night due to aging (average age 64.3), the expansion of late-night exclusive taxis specialized for late-night operation is expected to increase the inflow of drivers who need to increase their income, thereby effectively alleviating the taxi shortage.

Furthermore, the city will increase the operation rate of late-night taxis by changing the operation shifts of corporate taxis from daytime to nighttime and increasing the supply by 300 vehicles. Along with the additional expansion of late-night exclusive taxis, a comprehensive expansion at the level of personal taxis and corporate taxis will be promoted. Increasing by about 3,000 vehicles is expected to significantly supplement the supply of the required number of late-night taxis.

Also, Seoul will continue the ‘temporary boarding stands’ operation, which has been promoted throughout the year-end, under the leadership of the taxi industry starting from the 9th. Dedicated boarding stands will be set up in three areas?Hongdae Ipgu, Gangnam Station, and Jongno?until late-night taxis are stably supplied, supporting convenient boarding for citizens.

Baek Ho, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Transportation Office, said, “To respond to the surge in late-night taxi demand, we are making every effort to prepare all possible measures that can be immediately implemented, including lifting the personal taxi shift system and activating late-night exclusive taxis.” He added, “We will continue to closely monitor and identify citizen inconveniences and prepare continuous measures to resolve boarding difficulties.”

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