<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

After folding fledgling ride-sharing business due to die-hard taxi drivers, Kakao Mobility Corp. this time engaged the taxi industry to launch a van-hailing service in a compromise to avoid a clash with the existing car-hailing service and regulations.

The mobility business unit of Korea’s messenger app giant Kakao Corp. has launched hybrid ride-hailing service on vans dubbed “Kakao T Venti” on Wednesday, with an initial fleet of 100 large vans running within Seoul.

The beta version has gone into service through the company’s existing taxi-hailing app Kakao T, with the new service offered through a pop-up message for users to hire a van taxi.

The company will decide on the official launch based on a response to its trial service.

Kakao T Venti is offered together with licensed taxi drivers and can avoid the legal contradiction Tada has faced for arranging van drivers for its ride-hailing service, according to the company. After its initial launch was stopped due to suicidal taxi drivers, Kakao Mobility has engaged the taxi industry by purchasing legitimate seven taxi operators along with over 600 taxi licenses. It already had its app-based taxi meter authorized by the provincial government of Seoul.

Many questions if the hybrid service based on existing taxi service can be regarded as new mobility and be competitive as global players like Uber whose merit is the values added by the big data and analytics from the pool of random users and drivers.

Tada, the country’s young but largest rental van-hailing service provider with 1.3 million subscribers and nearly 10,000 registered drivers, is on the verge of going down due to possible changes in local transportation law. Korean lawmakers have proposed revising the country’s vehicle law to restrict passenger-carrying service on rental vans only to tour purposes amid strong opposition from the local taxi industry on Tada’s service.

Lee Jae-woong, chief executive of the car-sharing platform SoCar, which owns Tada operator Value Creators & Company, has argued that ride-hailing service providers would not be able to keep the business running if they are restricted to pooling existing taxi licenses. Lee on Monday that he would rather fold the business if Tada was to become another plain cab service. The court is also deliberating the case to outlaw Tada.

Meanwhile, over 60,000 people have signed up petition against outlawing Tada service.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]