Tokyo Startup to Test Ride-Sharing Service on Island of Yoron

June 21, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese mobility startup Azit Inc. and the tourism association on the island of Yoron will test a ride-sharing service on the island in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima in August.

In the test service, residents on the island will give rides to tourists using their own vehicles. The move is intended to cope with an increase in visitors, which has made it difficult for local taxis and other transport services on the island to cover traffic demand in peak tourism seasons.

The Tokyo-based company and the tourism association aim to fully launch the ride-sharing service in September after examining customer satisfaction levels and the appropriate number of vehicles needed for the service.

Azit will consider launching ride-sharing services in other areas as well after assessing the results of the test.

In Japan, drivers are banned from transporting people for fees if they do not have licenses for such operations, and this has prevented ride-sharing services from spreading in the country.

But a government notification in March allowing regular drivers to receive honorariums for giving rides using their private vehicles made a ride-sharing service possible, with users paying gasoline fees and voluntary honorariums.

Yoron is seeing an increase in tourists thanks in part to the popularity of Yurigahama, a scenic beach, but faces difficulties dealing with higher transport demand with local route bus and taxi services alone in peak seasons. There are only eight taxis on the island.

In the test, about 10 residents will be registered as drivers on Azit's Crew ride-hailing app. Users will pay gasoline fees and voluntary honorariums to drivers and service usage fees to Azit with credit cards using the app. Jiji Press