"I've been waiting 10 minutes and not a single taxi has come. I wanted to take one because of the heat, but the wait is even worse."
It was around 2:10 p.m. Thursday outside Exit 4 of Sinchon Station on Seoul Subway Line 2 in Seodaemun-gu. A 74-year-old woman surnamed Lee, shading herself with a parasol in the blazing sun, sighed as she spoke. The daytime high in Seoul that day was 31 degrees Celsius. She had been ducking in and out of a nearby air-conditioned bus shelter — stepping inside to escape the heat, then rushing back out whenever a taxi came into view. None of the taxis that passed were available for hailing. Eventually, Lee gave up on the shelter entirely and stood at the roadside, fanning herself and scanning the street.
"I have no idea how to call a taxi," she said. "These days they're all pre-booked, so elderly people can't get one. Even if you wave from the street, they don't stop." After waiting more than 10 minutes, Lee gave up and boarded a community bus that arrived first.
Every taxi taken — seniors left waving at empty air
Of 42 people aged 70 and older interviewed Wednesday and Thursday near Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seocho-gu and Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu's Sinchon area, only eight said they knew how to use a ride-hailing app.
As services such as Kakao T and Uber have become the norm for booking taxis, catching a cab has grown increasingly difficult for older Seoulites. For many elderly residents, the only option left is to stand under the scorching sun and wave.
Pre-booked vehicles meant taxis slipped away right before their eyes. An 88-year-old man surnamed Han, encountered Wednesday morning at the taxi stand outside Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seocho-gu, tried to board an arriving taxi only to be told by the driver it was reserved, and stepped back.
Pointing at the line of taxis, Han said, "They're all reserved." He added that he had once waited 30 minutes on the street for a cab. When the second taxi to arrive also turned out to be pre-booked, Han apologized to the driver and shuffled away, visibly embarrassed.
Cho Eun-hee, 71, encountered the same day at the taxi stand outside Seoul Express Bus Terminal in Seocho-gu, said she had already been waiting 10 minutes. "The line looked short so I figured I'd just wait, but every taxi that came was reserved," she said. "On top of that, the heat is just unbearable."
A 71-year-old man surnamed Park, also waiting at the stand, said the shade offered little relief. "There's some shade here, but it's so hot my face is burning and I keep sweating," he said. "I don't know how to call a taxi, so I have no choice but to wait no matter how hot it gets."
An elderly man at the front of the queue said the heat that day was something else. "Any other day I'd just wait, but today the air feels suffocating," he said. "Every taxi that came was pre-booked, so the wait dragged on — I'm only just getting one now."
A 70-year-old taxi driver surnamed Park said that by his estimate, roughly 80 percent of his passengers now come through Kakao T bookings, with only about 20 percent picked up off the street. "Particularly during busy hours, I almost never turn on the vacant sign," he said. "There are many times I drive past elderly people trying to hail a cab on the street."
The elderly people interviewed consistently said they avoided ride-hailing apps because they did not know how to use them. Even learning once is no guarantee of continued use. Park Min-hee, 70, met near Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, said her daughter had shown her how to book a Kakao T on Saturday morning — her first time using it. "But our generation forgets these things quickly," she said. "I'm not sure I'll be able to do it again next time."
Dial 02-120: Seoul's phone-based taxi service since July 6
To help elderly residents hail taxis, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and some district offices have introduced phone-based booking services tailored to older users.
The city's flagship offering is "Donghang Ondacall," a service in which a call-center agent books and dispatches a taxi on the caller's behalf after they provide their departure point and destination over the phone. Previously reachable at 1855-0120, the service was revamped on July 6 and is now accessible through the city's Dasan Call Center at 02-120.
Eunpyeong-gu operates its own service called "Baekse Call," which allows residents aged 65 and older to book a taxi by phone without needing an app.
Experts say app literacy training and phone-based booking services must go hand in hand. Jeong Sun-dol, a professor in the Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Womans University, said older adults struggle to learn app usage from just one or two sessions. "They need repeated opportunities to practice — installing the app, placing a booking, registering a payment card," she said.
Jeong added that while some existing phone-based services could be a significant help, many elderly people are simply unaware they exist. "The services need to connect callers smoothly, and the city needs to actively publicize how to use them," she said.
Kakao Mobility, which operates Kakao T, said it also runs a phone-based taxi booking service — in which agents place bookings on behalf of users who find the app difficult to navigate — as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
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