Kakao seizes South Korean streets after Uber's retreat

Kakao seizes South Korean streets after Uber's retreat

SEOUL - Less than a month after Uber, the smartphone-based transportation company, shut down its flagship UberX service in South Korea, a local alternative was up and running.

The upstart, created by Kakao, the country's dominant instant messaging service, now rules the road.

The company says KakaoTaxi is handling 500,000 ride requests a day and that of some 270,000 South Korean taxi drivers, 150,000 have signed up to accept passengers through the app.

"It's on an upward trajectory," spokeswoman Sonia Im said.

Analysts at brokerage KDB Daewoo Securities, which rates Kakao a "buy," said in a recent report that the service already "has changed the way taxi services are provided and used," with users and drivers embracing it as a convenience.

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