A bill to delay the nationwide rollout of the "taxi salary system" by two years from its scheduled August 2025 implementation passed a subcommittee of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on Wednesday.
The postponement reflects concerns over the taxi industry's aging workforce and labor shortages, prioritizing field readiness over a rushed rollout. The bill also includes a provision allowing some drivers to work fewer than 40 hours per week if labor and management reach an agreement.
The committee's traffic legislation review subcommittee voted to approve the amendment to the Act on the Development of the Taxi Transport Business. Under the taxi salary system, corporate taxi drivers working 40 or more hours per week turn over all fare revenue to their companies and receive a guaranteed fixed monthly salary of at least 2 million won ($1,400). The system was introduced through an August 2019 amendment to the Taxi Development Act and took effect in Seoul in 2021, but its rollout to the rest of the country was already postponed once from August 2024 to August 2026.
With the nationwide launch previously set for August 20, the bill's passage has significantly raised the likelihood of a further delay to August 20, 2028.
The committee determined that extending the salary system — currently applied only in Seoul — to provincial areas across the board would be "premature." Approximately 36% of corporate taxi drivers are aged 65 or older, making a nationwide mandate requiring at least 40 hours of weekly work impractical, critics noted. Concerns have also been raised that the system cannot accommodate diverse work arrangements such as part-time, alternating-day or weekend-only shifts, and could devolve into a structure where high-performing drivers subsidize the income of lower performers.
Alongside the additional postponement, the bill permits some taxi drivers to work fewer than 40 hours per week. The exemption from working-hour regulations aims to ease the system's rigidity and minimize disruption in the field. The relevant amendment, jointly proposed in December by Rep. Son Myeong-su of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Kwon Young-jin of the People Power Party, allows taxi operators and driver representatives to set different working hours for up to 40% of licensed vehicles, provided both sides agree.
The Democratic Party has set a goal of processing 30 land and transport bills, including this amendment, by the end of May, which marks the midpoint of the 22nd National Assembly's term. Bipartisan consensus on the Taxi Development Act amendment is expected to facilitate swift deliberations. Rep. Kim Wi-sang of the People Power Party, a former taxi union member, recently proposed his own bill to diversify working hours and revenue remittance methods contingent on labor-management agreement, adding momentum to efforts for greater flexibility.
However, some critics argue that the postponement and the 40% exemption amount to "an attempt to neutralize the system." They warn that the delay in implementation could also set back improvements in taxi drivers' working conditions. The Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union and its taxi branch held a press conference Wednesday outside the district office of Rep. Maeng Seong-gyu, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, in Namdong-gu, Incheon, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Taxi Development Act amendment.