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Ride-Sharing Coming to Tokyo, Kyoto

TOKYO - Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced four primary regions, including Tokyo's 23 wards and Kyoto City, as leading candidates for the introduction of ride-sharing services using private cars for a fee, starting in April.

The ministry extracted areas and times with taxi shortages based on data from several taxi dispatch apps from October to December of last year.

As a result, it was found that taxis were in short supply mainly during weekend nights in areas such as Tokyo's 23 wards, Yokohama City, Nagoya City, and Kyoto City. These four regions have been announced as prime candidates for the introduction of ride-sharing services operated by private drivers.

This is the first time the ministry has announced potential areas for the introduction of ride-sharing, with plans to gradually reveal more regions slated for the service in the future.

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