Taxi fares jump 19.1 percent in August, largest gain since 1999

[Photo by Yonhap]

Taxi fares in South Korea saw their largest increase since the foreign exchange crisis in August 2023, leading to an overall rise in public service prices, data showed on Wednesday.

According to Statistics Korea’s Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), the taxi fare index within the public service price index was 120.19 (base year 2020=100) in August, up 19.1 percent from a year ago. It is the largest increase since January 1999 when the taxi fare index rose 21.0 percent during the foreign exchange crisis.

The growth rate of taxi fares, which had been in the 0 percent range, has been increasing since December 2022, when it rose 1.5 percent. Following a 17.8 percent increase in July, the rate of increase was nearly 20 percent in August.

“The taxi fare index has been increasing as more regions have increased their taxi fares since last year,” an official from Statistics Korea said.

The taxi fare hike began in earnest last December when late-night surcharges for taxis in Seoul and North Chungcheong Province were increased. Taxi fares in Ulsan and Daegu were raised in January of this year and the basic fare for Seoul taxis went up a month later. This was followed by taxi fare increases in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province in June, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Gyeonggi Province in July, followed by North Chungcheong Province, North Jeolla Province, and North Gyeongsang Province in August.

Inner-city and intercity bus fares also rose by 8.1 percent and 10.2 percent respectively in August compared to a year ago, the largest increases since a 9.3 percent hike in June 2016 and a 11.4 percent jump in February 2020.

With these consecutive increases in public transportation fares, public service prices were 1.7 percent higher last month than a year earlier. This was the largest increase in a year and 10 months since the 6.1 percent hike recorded in October 2021.

After remaining in the 0 percent range until February this year, the rate of increase in public service prices rose to 1.2 percent in March and continued its upward trend in July and August.