It was found that Kakao Mobility's 'Kakao T Blue' occupies about 80% of the nationwide platform affiliate taxi market.



Platform franchise business refers to the provision of paid transportation services by securing a transportation platform and recruiting taxis as franchisees.



According to data on the status of affiliated (brand) taxis received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Kakao Mobility by Rep. Kim Sang-hoon (People's Power) belonging to the National Assembly Land Transport Committee on the 15th, as of the end of June this year, among 29,820 affiliated taxis nationwide. 23,271 units (78.0%) appeared as Kakao T Blue.



This means that 8 out of 10 branded taxis nationwide are Kakao T Blue.



However, this statistic does not include the current situation in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do.



In Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, Kakao Mobility signed an agreement with DGT Mobility to operate Kakao T Blue, but DGT did not submit data on the current status of Kakao T Blue, so the count was made except for Daegu and Gyeongbuk, the office of the legislature explained.



In the case of Seoul, which has the most registered taxi affiliates, 12,276 (73.0%) out of 14,81 vehicles were Kakao T Blue.



The market share of Gyeonggi (81.8%) and Busan (80.4%) exceeded 80%.



The share of Kakao T in 10 metropolitan cities including Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Sejong, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam and Gyeongnam reached 100%.



The number of taxis affiliated with Kakao T Blue, which was only 513 in 2019, surged to 16,465 last year, and then increased to 23,271 in June this year.



That's a 45-fold increase in about a year and a half.



The share of Kakao T Blue in the affiliated taxi market has also surged.



Excluding Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, Kakao T Blue's share in the affiliate taxi market rose from 60.2% last year to 78.0% in June this year.



In addition, although it is classified as a non-affiliated taxi, if you include the 'Kakao Pro Membership' taxi (estimated to have more than 20,000 units) that receive Kakao Call benefits, Kakao Mobility is evaluated as having a virtually monopoly in the affiliated taxi market.



Rep. Kim said, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport introduced the transportation platform business under the Mobility Innovation Act, but it resulted in accelerating the monopoly of big tech companies, not innovation. should be explored,” he said.



(Photo = Yonhap News)