Toss introduces in-app mobility services, seeks further partnerships

Toss users can summon taxis, share electric bicycles and scooters within the Toss app from Monday. [TOSS]

Local financial services provider Toss has introduced in-app mobility services on Monday to expand its foothold in the domestic mobility market.

Toss users can now summon taxis, share electric bicycles and scooters and pay for such services through the Toss app without separately downloading the related apps, subscriptions or payment registrations.

The company has been gearing up to provide more mobility offerings since October, allowing its users to reserve and purchase train tickets within the app by collaborating with state-run train operator Korail.

Toss collaborated with three mobility operators — VCNC, which is behind van-hailing service Tada, and personal mobility-sharing operators Gbike and Olulo for electric bicycles and scooters, it said on Monday.

Taxi hailing service Tada’s Tada Next, which can board up to five people, and premium taxi feature Tada Plus will be made available through Toss 24/7 for pickups in Seoul, neighboring regions such as Gwangmyeong city in Gyeonggi and Wirye, which spans the southern portion of Seoul’s Songpa District and northern Sujeong District in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, and Incheon International Airport.

Toss users can check the distance and the expected fee for utilizing Tada services within the app too.

Tada’s prior service will continue to operate under its separate app.

Toss’s new service comes four months since its attempt to sell its stake in VCNC to another e-scooter sharing platform The Swing was scrapped by the fintech firm back in August. Back then, Toss said that VCNC recently showed "improved profitability" and was managing the van-hailing service by itself "for the time being."

The fintech firm said that it will continue to expand its presence within the domestic mobility market through partnerships with more mobility operators.

“We have launched services to allow users to access more convenient forms of transportation, such as partnering with Korail, and now users have more mobility options to choose from,” a Toss spokesperson said in a statement.

“We will continue to expand the number of operators for taxis, electric bicycles and scooters to take their services under our wing.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]