Relaxation of Personal Taxi Transfer Criteria Leads to Younger Taxi Drivers

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] It will become possible to acquire a personal taxi license even without prior experience driving commercial vehicles.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the revision and promulgation of the "Enforcement Rules of the Passenger Transport Service Act," which includes the relaxation of personal taxi transfer standards and taxi franchise business license standards.

To expand entry opportunities for young and middle-aged individuals into personal taxis, qualifications to obtain a personal taxi license will be granted even without experience driving commercial vehicles. Previously, a no-accident driving record for 5 out of the last 6 years in commercial vehicles such as corporate taxis was required, but now, a 5-year no-accident driving record and traffic safety education (conducted by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority) will suffice to qualify for personal taxi transfer.

Due to excessively strict personal taxi transfer conditions, the average age of personal taxi drivers has aged to 62.2 years, raising concerns about safety and ongoing issues with nighttime taxi shortages caused by avoidance of late-night shifts.

The initial entry barriers for transportation franchise businesses have been lowered, and license standards to promote integration with platforms have been significantly relaxed. In special and metropolitan cities, the requirement has been reduced from 8% or 4,000 taxis to 1% or 500 taxis; in business areas with populations over 500,000, from 12% or more to 1.5% or more; and in business areas with populations under 500,000, from 16% or more to 2% or more of the total number of taxis.

Additionally, the taxi driver qualification exam will be transferred from the existing Taxi Association to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, with the announcement expected within this month.

With the transfer of the examination institution, procedures such as detailed inspections, qualification exams, and criminal background checks will be unified, significantly shortening the qualification acquisition period to 1?2 days, which is expected to greatly aid in securing drivers.

Oh Myung-so, Director General of Comprehensive Transportation Policy, stated, “The government plans to continue supporting mobility innovation,” and added, “Even after this revision of the enforcement rules, we will boldly improve unreasonable regulations.”