• 한국경영과학회지
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.83-105
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• 2015

Taxi, one of the passenger services, is an essential transportation system in our society. In spite of the importance of taxi service, deterioration of the service quality is continuously reported. In particular, taxi service failures due to traffic accidents have emerged as the most serious social problem which may incur a considerable amount of social costs. In this study, we focus on analyzing the causes of service quality deterioration-traffic accidents of both corporately owned and privately owned taxies in Seoul. The research objective is to find out the determinants of service quality deterioration of Taxi industry and to suggest policies for improving the taxi service in Seoul. We collected the archival data from KTSA (Korea Transportation Safety Authority) and ODP (Open Data Portal), which span from 2005 to 2014. Hierarchical regression analyses and a set of mediation tests are conducted. The root factors inducing traffic accidents of taxies are divided into competitive, and profitability factors. The statistical results indicate that the accident ratio per taxi is not only affected by competitive/profitability factors such as number of active taxi drivers, number of bus passengers, and taxi fare, but also mediated by the traffic violation ratio. To alleviate the current problems with taxi service in Seoul, we conclude that the number of taxies be reduced and the taxi fare be increased. Finally, we suggest several policies to improve the endemic taxi industry problems, over-supply and the low profitability by enhancing the linkage between service quality and profitability.