South Korean micro-mobility market is emerging as the most profitable East Asian micro-mobility market. The capital of South Korea hosts many micro-mobility startups which are actually doing well among eco-friendly people and government of South Korea.

In addition to local e-scooter startups, a global player, Lime, has been operating its business in Seoul since October 2019. Before choosing Seoul as the business terrain, Lime carried out a global survey of more than 18,000 micro-mobility users and found out that one in four Lime riders replaces a trip by car and cities with easily accessible public transit networks can see up to 79% riders travelling to or from the stations at least once per month. The results of that survey were eye-opening. Seoul, which has a vast network of trains and buses to serve its population of 10 million residents is capable of giving fruitful results to micro-mobility startups.

Moreover, South Korea has recently suffered from the highest-burden of pollution which affects public health directly. Only an e-scooter can address this issue very affordably and quickly. In Lime’s one of the reports, they have clearly mentioned that electric micro-mobility vehicles have prevented 1.2 million gallons of gas from being burned. This is a really big achievement of mankind!

According to another report, the micro-mobility startups are experiencing an increase in age demographics among e-scooter riders. 1 in 4 e-scooter riders is aged 42 or more.

Many other micro-mobility startups are also deriving benefits from the dramatically changed micro-mobility market. Talking about the South Korean micro-mobility market, following are some other players, intensifying the market. If you are planning to build an e-scooter app in South Korea, you should study these startups to come up with better service and more feature-packed e-scooter app.

Other e-scooter startups dominating the South Korean micro-mobility market

 
Micro-mobility is the global trend and it even hit South Korea. Eco-friendly people and gentle government rules are fueling the south Korean micro-mobility ecosystem. Metro cities of South Korea do not only attract global micro-mobility startups, but many local micro-mobility startups also find their relevant spots in the South Korean market.

One such startup is Kickgoing. It has launched e-scooters late September 2018 in a part of Seoul city named Gangnam. After tasting the initial success in Gangnam, it has expanded to Hongdae and Jamsil in January 2019.

To unlock the e-scooter and ride it for 5 minutes, it costs ￦1000. And after 5 minutes of the ride, it costs ￦100 for every one minute. You can check out its Android app here. Another e-scooter sharing app named Pickboard is soon going to be launched in Seoul, South Korea and we are the proud technology partner of Pickboard.

Seoul is also having docked bicycle-sharing program which is known as the Seoul Bike. However, the service is different than the e-scooter sharing.

Since it is docked bicycle-sharing, one can only rent a bicycle from its docking station. And unlike e-scooter sharing, they charge on an hourly basis. Each 60-minute trip costs ￦1000, 2 hours cost ￦2000 and a day pass costs ￦5000.

Though the South Korean micro-mobility market is commercially successful, there are two major challenges which every e-scooter startup should know before hiring an e-scooter app development company to build the e-scooter app in South Korea.

South Korean micro-mobility market challenges

 
Like any other micro-mobility market, South Korean micro-mobility market also has its own challenges which every startup should know to decode and be profitable.

The first challenge is the lack of e-scooter friendly infrastructure. In an absent of dedicated bicycle lanes like European and American cities, all e-scooter renting companies in South Korea recommend e-scooter riders to use alleys and side roads which are dangerous for both e-scooter riders and pedestrians.

Another challenge associated with South Korean micro-mobility market is the unavailability of e-scooters after 8 PM to 7 AM. According to a law imposed by the government, an e-scooter sharing company is only permitted to run its business between 7 AM to 8 PM. After 8 PM, a rider can not unlock the e-scooter. And this makes the situation difficult for commuters who work late and use only e-scooters as a last-mile solution.

Now, let’s quickly discuss the top government regulations every micro-mobility startup has to follow to not fall into a legal battle.

Government regulations for e-scooters in South Korea

 
The number of accidents involving e-scooters has been on the rise and thus, the government of South Korea has imposed many rules to ensure the safety of riders as well as pedestrians. Those rules include:

• Wearing a helmet while riding an e-scooter is mandatory.
• The operator should provide a helmet to riders.
• Riding an e-scooter on dedicated bicycle lane is legal.
• The maximum speed of the e-scooter should be 25 kilometres an hour.
• A rider does not need to hold a driving licence to ride an e-scooter.
• The operator is required to have valid insurance.
• The operator can not run his e-scooter sharing business after 8 PM to 7 AM.
• The operator should educate people to ride e-scooter safely and to park e-scooter appropriately.

Looking for a technology partner and legal adviser to build the e-scooter app in South Korea and get a permit? Know how we can help you.

 
Coruscate is the top e-scooter app development company which has developed 10 e-scooter apps for 10 different markets, including an app for South Korean market. Since we have already developed an e-scooter app for the South Korean market, our developers and business experts possess very purposeful knowledge to develop the best e-scooter app for South Korean market and get the permit.

Most importantly, we do not charge extra for our other services beyond app development. Our other services include legal advice to get the permit and business advice to decide on the business model and e-scooter hardware.

Considering the different requirements of different startups, we offer 3 approaches to build the e-scooter app for South Korea.

• To develop the custom app with all custom features, we charge somewhere between $15K to $25K.
• The price to develop a clone e-scooter app of some popular e-scooter apps such as Bird and Lime starts from $10k.
• And our subscription plan for white label e-scooter app starts from just $500.

To know more about the pricing structure and get a personalized quote, please feel free to contact us. We’ll give you free e-scooter app demo and free consultation.