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| Citizens try to catch taxis at Seoul Station, central Seoul. / Korea Times file |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Starting next month, Seoul residents will be able to share taxi rides through an app at designated districts in the capital during the late night to early morning hours.
The service launch will lay the legal ground for cab sharing, which was banned in 1982.
Called Banban (half-half in Korean) Taxi, the app was selected by the Ministry of Science and ICT two weeks ago to operate outside some of the existing rules and laws as part of the ministry's regulatory "sandbox" for IT firms.
It is currently working out the last details such as insurance in case of accidents and expects to get final approval from the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) soon.
App users can book a shared taxi ride between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. in 12 districts with a concentration of nightlife venues that are notorious for a shortage of cabs at night.
They are Gangnam, Seocho, Jongno, Mapo, Yongsan, Yeongdeungpo, Guro, Seongdong, Gwangjin, Dongjak, Gwanak and Jung.
The app automatically matches users whose routes overlap at least 70 percent. There is a 4,000 won ($3.4) extra charge for each shared cab hailed for two passengers, who will split this fee evenly. The charge climbs to 6,000 won after midnight. The app operator takes around 1,000 won from the ride-hailing fare and the rest goes to the driver.
"We believe shared rides are the only way to fix the ride hailing congestion," Kim Ki-dong, CEO of Kornatus, the mobility startup behind Banban Taxi, said in a phone interview. "Just assigning more cabs to needed areas will not solve the problem as long as the speed at which cabs can line up, pick-up passengers and drive through the spot remains the same. With two passengers per cab, the flow will be quicker ― like how water empties faster through a bigger pipe."
To allay fears of possible gender-related crimes in these late-night shared rides, the app will only match passengers of the same sex, Kim added.
The app's launch follows the long conflict between the taxi industry and taxi-related mobile platform operators.
This is not the first time shared cab rides took place on Seoul's streets. Ride-sharing was an illegal practice coordinated on the spot by many taxi drivers before 1982, when the government banned the practice to prevent taxis from coercing passengers to ride together to earn more per ride. Though rare, the practice still occurs sometimes on short commute routes during rush hours.
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