Daily Busan
Busan partners with Uber to improve Festival Shiwol experience
source: gettyimage
International visitors will be able to hail taxis in Busan as easily as they do at home, thanks to a new partnership between the city and Uber.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed on Aug. 11, Busan Metropolitan City will work with the global ride-hailing platform to provide seamless transportation for foreign tourists during the upcoming Festival Shiwol.
Festival Shiwol, scheduled from Sept. 21 to Oct. 3, is an annual conglomeration of parallel music, film, technology, business and food festivals.
Uber, which operates in nearly 70 countries, will allow visitors to request rides in Busan through the same app they use overseas. The service’s built-in translation feature will also help drivers and passengers communicate without language barriers.
The move addresses long-standing obstacles in Korea’s ride-hailing market, where most platforms require mobile identity verification tied to domestic carriers and accept only locally issued payment methods. By integrating Uber’s globally accessible platform, Busan aims to create a more convenient and tourist-friendly environment for the city-wide celebration.
Key elements of the partnership include promoting Festival Siwol to international visitors through the Uber app and distributing 3,000 Uber Taxi coupons — each worth 5,000 won — to festival ticket holders. These measures aim to enhance safety, convenience and overall visitor experience during the city-wide convergence festival, which spans locations such as Haeundae and North Port.
<Today's Vocabulary - 오늘의 단어>
conglomeration: 복합 parallel: 유사한 integrate: 통합하다 accessible: 접근가능한 element: 요소 measure: 조치 enhance: 강화시키다 span: 가로지르다
Editor: Song Soomi
Copy Editors: Ryu Hyoseung, Anton J. Mapoy