2 a.m: hardest time to catch taxi in Itaewon

A street in Itaewon is filled with people at night in this October photo, as bars and restaurants open until late hours. / Yonhap

By Jung Hae-myoung

The hardest time to grab a taxi near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul is midnight, and for Itaewon, 2 a.m. Kakao Mobility and Seoul Digital Foundation said, Thursday.

The two organizations conducted a joint study based on data from Kakao's taxi ride-hailing app from November 2017 to October 2018.

The calls for taxis peaked around midnight in Gangnam, with the demand on the app surpassing supply. “Many of the demands for short-distance trips, about a kilometer or two, were not met,” the study showed.

In Jongno area, the taxi demand was higher than supply between midnight and 1:20 a.m. The demand peaked in the area around Hongik University around 1:30 a.m., and in Itaewon, from around 2 a.m.

While the high demand for taxis almost subsided after 2 a.m., it continued until 5 a.m. in Itaewon, the report showed.

Experts said that among the places with high numbers of calls, people in Gangnam and Jongno go home relatively earlier because these regions have offices with entertainment districts nearby, and workers go for “compulsory” get-together dinners before going home.

On the other hand, people at Hongdae and Itaewon mostly visit the places on their own volition to have fun.

“The population in this region is the highest around midnight to visit clubs and lounge bars, and they run until 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.,” said Lee Ho-sung, secretary general of the Itaewon Sightseeing Association.

The report advised the city government to adopt various types of transportation as taxis refuse to take passengers short distances at night. It recommended short-distance buses or shuttles that run 3 kilometers to 4 kilometers, shuttle services in specific districts and ride-sharing services.