Trip.com has clarified that it does not arrange what is known as ‘white taxi’ services in Japan.
‘White taxi’, refers to illegal taxi operations using private vehicles with white license plates rather than the permitted green license plate commercial vehicles. Violators can face up to three years in prison or fines of up to 3 million yen for violating the Road Transport Law. Additionally, users may not be covered in the event of accidents.
Our magazine had inquired whether Trip.com, a similar service provider to the major travel booking site Booking.com—which was reported to be arranging ‘white taxi’ services at domestic airports—was providing transport services in compliance with the law.
Tomoyuki Takada, General Manager and Representative of Trip.com Group Japan stated, ‘We utilize registered transportation service intermediaries when providing services such as airport transfers and rental cars to travelers in Japan. We mandate all partners and suppliers to upload information showing that their vehicles comply with regulations, and we conduct reviews and verifications. We continuously monitor our Japanese partners and work closely with them to ensure strict compliance with regulations. Partners who do not meet Japan’s regulatory requirements will be suspended from providing services on our platform.’
Trip.com is an online travel agency headquartered in Shanghai, China, and listed on the NASDAQ in 2003. It employs approximately 45,100 people and has over 400 million members. The website is operated by the Singapore entity, which is licensed based on Singapore’s travel agency laws.
Notice
This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
