Platform taxi ridesharing allowed only among same gender... Large taxis are an exception

In platform taxis such as Kakao Taxi and Tada, ride-sharing is only allowed among passengers of the same gender. Additionally, all passengers must be able to know the boarding time and location of their ride-sharing partners.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the amendment to the "Enforcement Rules of the Taxi Transportation Business Development Act," which includes these provisions, will take effect from June 15.

This amendment is a follow-up legislative measure following the enforcement of the Taxi Transportation Business Development Act amendment that permits ride-sharing in platform taxis. It sets safety and protection standards for passengers that platform franchisees or platform brokerage operators must meet when operating ride-sharing services.

The detailed standards that platform services mediating ride-sharing must meet are as follows.

First, ride-sharing mediation must only be conducted when all passengers have applied through the platform, and the identity of the applicants must be verified before mediating the ride-sharing.

All passengers sharing a ride must be able to know the boarding time and location of their ride-sharing partners, and information about available seats must be provided to passengers before boarding.

Ride-sharing in compact, small, and medium-sized taxi vehicles must be conducted only among passengers of the same gender. However, large taxi vehicles are exempt from gender restrictions. This includes passenger cars with an engine displacement of 2000cc or more (6 to 10 seats) or vans (up to 13 seats).

The vehicle must be equipped with a function that allows passengers to make emergency reports to the police (112) or customer center in case of dangerous situations inside the vehicle, and the method of reporting must be informed to passengers before boarding. For example, clicking "Emergency Report" on the platform automatically inputs a text report to the police (112).

Meanwhile, taxi drivers arbitrarily forcing passengers to share rides remains prohibited as before.

Ride-sharing is only allowed under restrictions when passengers apply through platform services that meet safety and protection standards. Existing platform franchisees or platform brokerage operators wishing to operate ride-sharing services must meet passenger safety and protection standards and apply for a business plan change with the competent authority.

Yoon Jin-hwan, Director of Comprehensive Transportation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Allowing ride-sharing in platform taxi services is expected to partially alleviate the recent difficulty in getting late-night taxis," and added, "We will continue to actively support the launch of various taxi services combined with platforms to expand passengers' service choices."

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