Kutchan Town to Solve Winter Taxi Shortage Demonstration Test Aimed at Securing Transportation for Townspeople

Niseko real estate News

Kutchan Town to Solve Winter Taxi Shortage Demonstration Test Aimed at Securing Transportation for Townspeople

Kutchan] From the end of November to the end of February next year, the town of Kutchan in the Shiribeshi area will conduct a demonstration test to divide taxi service areas into resort areas around ski resorts and urban areas used by townspeople. The city’s taxis are concentrated in resort areas during the winter, making it difficult for townspeople to use them.

According to the town, there are more than a dozen taxis operating in the town during the winter season, but there are many cases where tourists from resort areas call them and townspeople cannot get on when they need them.

Under the plan, 10 taxis and 25 drivers will be secured from outside the town in cooperation with the Hokkaido Hire Association and the Hokkaido Transportation Bureau. During the period, it will exclusively operate resort areas including Niseko Town within the same jurisdiction. Reservations and dispatches can be made through a dedicated smartphone app, and passengers pay a 900-yen charge per ride to cover operating costs in addition to the fare.

For the driver’s accommodation, we used the workers’ dormitory for the Hokkaido Shinkansen tunnel construction in Niseko Town. The two towns will split half of the total accommodation costs of about 8.4 million yen, and the rest will be borne by the two towns according to usage records.
A company in Kutchan Town will make three of its taxis exclusive for use in urban areas. The rest will be shared, and townspeople living in the resort area can use it without any contribution.

The town assumes that the difference in income from operating the resort area will be 25,000 yen per day. The town will pay the contractor for the lost income. In the future, we will consider the selection of operators and operating hours. About 13 million yen will be included in the supplementary budget for the general account, which will be submitted to the regular town assembly in September.

The town’s General Policy Division said, “We want to determine whether full-scale operation is possible while filling the gap between resorts and urban areas.”

Hokkaido News Papar2023.7.24

Niseko real estate company CEO’s perspective

Taxis in the Niseko area are expensive. Driving agency is also expensive. In addition, public transportation is inconvenient. Drunk driving will increase if taxis cannot be secured from accommodation to restaurants. Driving on winter roads in Hokkaido requires skill. Many foreign tourists think that they should not be drunk when it comes to drunk driving. This is very dangerous. I hope that it will be improved by dividing taxi users into resort areas and city areas.