The Seoul city government on Tuesday said it would expand the operation of late-night taxis to cope with the growing demand for taxi services during late hours.
Currently, an average of around 20,000 taxis were in operation in the capital from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., which was around the 80 per cent level compared with before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city government said it would first increase the supply of late-night cabs by about 5,000, by temporarily scrapping a taxi shift scheduling system for private drivers starting from Thursday.
Under the system, restrictions were in place for privately owned taxis, which required them to take every third day off.
It would mark the first time in 45 years that the system was entirely lifted.
Instead, taxi owner-drivers would be divided into 10 teams and would drive during night hours in turn from Monday to Friday, the city government said.
Also, the city government planned to provide all newly hired taxi drivers with 200,000 won in monthly allowances for three months to help get more people into the industry.
The city hoped to supply an additional 2,000 taxis through the program.
