Busan’s taxi-hailing app ‘Dongbaek Taxi’ gains popularity

Busan’s taxi-hailing app ‘Dongbaek Taxi’ gains popularity [Source : Busan city]

“Dongbaek Taxi,” a local taxi-hailing service developed by Kona I Co., is gaining popularity in the taxi-hailing app market to challenge bigger rival Kakao Mobility as it provides significant convenience for passengers and taxi drivers to help them save costs.

According to the Busan taxi industry and Kona I officials, Dongbaek Taxi, linked to the city‘s local currency “Busan Dongbaekjeon,” has increased its market share since its launch in December 2021. Out of the city’s 23,000 cabs, 93.5 percent or 21,500 drivers signed up as members of the app.

Other taxi-hailing apps are available in Seoul, such as Onda and UT, but the number of cab drivers are only a third of the membership on Kakao Taxi.

Dongbaek Taxi is linked to the city’s local currency, “Busan Dongbaekjeon,” which is one of its biggest appealing points. Users can call taxis on the Dongbaekjeon app, which doesn’t require installing another app or a membership. The automatic payment service gives back 10 percent of the taxi fee in cash to users to help save on transportation costs.

Dongbaek taxi is popular among taxi drivers. Commissions are much lower than other apps, which is the only fee that the service charges for drivers. As a result, an estimated 3 billion won a year can be saved for taxi drivers in Busan.

Other strengths Dongbaek taxi boasts are the coverage distance and high availability. If a taxi is 2 kilometers away, the average chance that a passenger can take a ride within 30 seconds of a call is 90 percent.

Kona I officials said that “this service promotes the widespread use of local currency, thereby improving self-sufficiency while enhancing a sense of community among Busan citizens.”

Busan city put Kona I, a local currency platform and service operator, in charge of the development and operation of the taxi service to seek greater synergy between the two local services. Local taxi drivers actively joined this new service to revitalize the taxi industry.

Busan’s success has been a lesson other local communities can learn from. For example, several municipalities, including Daegu, are working on implementing a service model similar to Dongbaek Taxi, a Kona I official added.