NISEKO NEWS
By Thomas Shomaker
A public-private partnership to bring more taxi service to Niseko resulted in over 20,000 rides during the 2023/24 season.
The initiative, dubbed “The Niseko Model”, was a collaboration between the Hokkaido Transportation Bureau and the associated Hokkaido Hire Association, Kutchan Town, Niseko Town, and the private Tokyo-based GO Corporation.
25 additional taxi drivers brought in from Sapporo and Tokyo and 11 additional vehicles served Niseko under the model and according to figures released by the GO Corporation on 19 March, such rides ordered over the GO taxi app averaged over 200 per day from 11 December 2023 to 19 March of this year, for a total of over 20,000 trips.
80% of the riders were repeat customers and about 90% of the trips served inbound customers from 51 countries.
The plan also reserved some drivers to work in Kutchan Town proper and compensated them from a JPY900 (US$5.94) surcharge applied to Niseko Model rides ordered on the GO app in the resort areas.
Comments given to GO Corporation for the 19 March press release by the Chairman of the Hokkaido Hire Association, Niseko Mayor Kenya Katayama and Kutchan Mayor Kazushi Monji expressed satisfaction with the Niseko Model’s inaugural season and their intention to continue the program next winter season.
“We believe that the Niseko Model project has made a huge contribution in resolving the difficulty of travelling the last mile during the winter tourist season, which has been a major social issue in the Niseko area,” Niseko Mayor Katayama said.
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