[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon Metropolitan City announced on the 31st that it will pilot operate a phone call service for 'Suwon e-taxi' starting August 1st for elderly people who are not comfortable using smartphones.
Suwon e-taxi, launched in 2021, is a taxi-hailing app exclusive to Suwon City with no calling fees or brokerage commissions. Until now, it has operated only through a smartphone app, making it difficult for elderly users unfamiliar with app usage to utilize the service.
To enable anyone to conveniently use Suwon e-taxi, the city will pilot operate a phone call service from August 1st through December 31st.
When calling 1899-8820, a call center operator will confirm the destination and then dispatch a taxi through the driver app for Suwon e-taxi. There are no passenger calling fees or driver commissions.
During the five-month pilot operation, the city plans to analyze operational performance such as call volume and dispatch rate, and determine whether to continue operating the phone call service.
Suwon e-taxi is a public-private collaboration platform led by the taxi industry and supported by Suwon City. It was created through cooperation among three taxi organizations in Suwon (Suwon Corporation Taxi Association, Gyeonggi-do Individual Taxi Transportation Business Suwon Association, and the National Taxi Workers Union Gyeonggi-Suwon Branch) to prevent monopolistic abuses by major taxi-hailing platform companies, protect taxi workers, and provide citizens with taxi brokerage services without calling fees.
All general (corporation) taxis and individual taxis in Suwon City are registered with the platform. The daily average number of calls reaches 5,049.
A city official stated, "Elderly people unfamiliar with smart devices sometimes experience difficulties when calling taxis through smartphone apps," and added, "We hope that the Suwon e-taxi phone call service will help elderly people conveniently use taxis."