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Tag: Kakao T

  • Kakao T signs MOU with premium taxi service

    Kakao T signs MOU with premium taxi service

    Kakao Mobility is partnering with premium taxi provider Tago Solutions to improve customer service quality and drivers’ income levels. The move comes as tensions continue to boil over with much of the taxi industry fiercely protesting the company’s carpooling business. On Thursday, Kakao’s mobility subsidiary announced that it signed an MOU with Tago Solutions, a company co-established by some 50 taxi companies and 5,000 taxi drivers last September with the goal of offering distinguished and premium taxi services like pet-friendly options.

    Tago hit headlines last month for requesting the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s approval to offer Korea’s first women-only taxi services. The service, dubbed Waygo Lady, will only allow female drivers and customers.

    Kakao is expected to give customers the option to choose Tago’s services via the Kakao T taxi-hailing app.

    “We hope to create an environment where drivers are friendly and do not refuse customers,” Kakao added in a statement. One of Tago’s stated missions is to accept all customers regardless of destination. Though refusing customers is illegal in Korea, some drivers still do it if the requested destination is unprofitable.

    Kakao is also hoping to improve drivers’ working environment with Tago. The premium services, which are expected to come at a premium price, will improve drivers’ income levels while the services for women will provide new opportunities for female taxi drivers – a minority in Korea.

    The move comes as many other taxi drivers and unions are boycotting Kakao for its plan to launch a carpooling service that potentially threatens the taxi industry. A Kakao spokesman said the company and Tago are on good terms and have been working on the partnership for months.

    Ahead of launching the premium services, Kakao said it will focus on developing technology that will allow for the seamless matching of users to taxis, while Tago will focus on training and educating drivers to provide high quality services.

     

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  • Kakao’s carpooling app goes live in beta test

    Kakao’s carpooling app goes live in beta test

    Kakao’s carpooling service was introduced Friday for beta testing and will be officially rolled out Dec. 17. The start of the service comes after months of battling fierce opposition from local taxi services. They staged a strike on Oct. 18, two days after the IT company started accepting applications from carpool drivers.

    With the beta service, the Kakao T mobile app, a platform for all of Kakao’s mobility services from taxi hailing to navigation, was upgraded to enable the “Carpool” button on its main screen. The beta service will not be accessible to everybody.

    “The beta service is aimed at increasing the stability of the technology and collecting opinions,” Kakao said in a statement. “For that reason, it will only be offered to some users.”

    The selection of testers will be random and independent of age and location. Anyone upgrading the Kakao T app Friday will see the new “Carpool” button, but only the selected users will be able to input words in the destination box. Those who weren’t selected will see an image with the words “This service will launch soon.”

    The base fare is set at 3,000 won ($2.68) for the first 2 kilometers (1.24 miles), the same as for regular taxis. After that point, the fare will increase proportional to the driving time and distance. The company did not disclose details, but a spokesman said the cost will be equivalent to around 70 to 80 percent of regular taxi fares.

    Kakao’s carpool drivers are allowed to offer carpooling services twice a day at any time of the day. The twice-a-day rule is due to the domestic law that limits carpooling to commuting purposes. More than 50,000 drivers who met Kakao’s requirements have been selected so far.

    A government-led task force composed of lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party, public officials and taxi companies met Friday to discuss carpooling. Executives from Kakao Mobility, the affiliate in charge of the IT company’s transportation services, decided to launch the same day,

    Kakao acquired the Luxi carpooling app in February and completed preparations for its service later in the year.

    The official launch was postponed previously as the task force failed to reach an agreement on the service’s details, including the fare and limits on use. During a task force meeting held Thursday, some government officials opposed Kakao’s request to release the service that same day, demanding more time to find common ground.

    Korea has been a difficult place for carpooling. Uber closed down its service in 2014, and Seoul’s local government questioned the legality of carpooling app Poolus in 2017.

  • Kakao starts carpool recruitment

    Kakao starts carpool recruitment

    Kakao Mobility has opened recruitment for its carpool app, infuriating taxi drivers who are vehemently opposed to the move. According to the mobility company that operates taxi-hailing app Kakao T, recruiting drivers is one of the crucial steps in preparation for the launch of its carpool service. The hiring process opened on Tuesday with the launch of a driver registration app, dubbed Kakao T Carpool for crews.

    Kakao Mobility was quick to point out that recruitment does not mean it will immediately launch a carpool app, adding that there is no set date for release. Instead, Kakao is looking to move drivers registered on Luxi to the new Kakao app, although this process will mean that it has a pool of drivers readily available, allowing it to immediately launch the app whenever it wants.

    Kakao Mobility has actually been attempting to launch its own carpool service since it acquired Luxi for 25.2 billion won ($22.4 million) in February. At the time, the company made it clear that it would only use the carpool service to cover shortages in taxis during peak hours, “within the legal boundaries.”

    Kakao’s statement did little to appease taxi drivers back in February, and they’re not any happier with the service now. Korea’s taxi drivers are fiercely opposed to ride-sharing apps, which they consider an unlicensed threat to business.

    This is the main reason why popular international ride-hailing companies like Uber are illegal in Korea under Article 81 of the Passenger Transport Service Act, which says that personal vehicles cannot be exploited for business purposes.

    Carpooling services, however, have been operating by taking advantage of a loophole that says that carpooling during commuting hours is permitted. Still, the vagueness of the term “commuting hours” has caused conflicts between carpool service providers and taxi drivers.

    Taxi drivers argue that Kakao is taking work away from them. As Kakao operates Kakao T, which thousands of taxi drivers rely on for work, the feeling of betrayal is even stronger.

    “It feels as if we are being backstabbed by Kakao, who we have been thinking of as a business partner,” said a spokesperson from the Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association, a group representing over 100,000 corporate taxi drivers nationwide, in a phone call Tuesday. “I can’t believe Kakao is making this announcement without delivering any message to drivers who have been holding a series of rallies against the company’s plan to start the carpool business.”

    The drivers held two rallies in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, where the Kakao Mobility office is located, on Oct. 4 and 11. About 500 people gathered at the second rally from four taxi driver unions, including the Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association. Tomorrow, a bigger protest is due to take place in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul at 2 p.m.

    To participate in tomorrow’s rally, about 4,000 drivers from Incheon, about half the city’s taxis, are expected to walk out, according to Incheon’s taxi association. About 2,000 taxis in Jeonju, the capital city of North Jeolla, are also due to stop operations for the rally, according to the city’s government.

    Some other cities are also facing similar problems as taxi drivers say they will leave for the rally.

    Despite the controversy, Kakao Mobility maintained Tuesday that carpool apps could be a great complementary service for taxis, citing data that on Sept. 20 there were 205,000 calls for taxis on the Kakao app from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., but only 37,000 taxis were available.

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