Free Taxi Service Launched in Tokyo

DeNA, a Japanese online-service provider, started offering a free taxi ride service in downtown Tokyo this month. This zero-yen taxi ride service is available until the end of 2018. Fifty taxis are available and one must use DeNA’s app to make a reservation.

How can a taxi ride be free?

Free taxi rides are possible due to an advertisement from a sponsor. The sponsor in this case is Nissin Food and the 50 taxis will feature ads for the company’s instant noodles. Ads will appear both inside and outside the cabs.

How to use the free taxis in Tokyo.

You must make your reservation using DeNA’s app. The offer is limited to rides within Tokyo’s 23 wards area. When you use the app, you first specify the location (for example, Shinjuku, Shibuya or Ginza) and then select a cab which will show up on the map. Though you can ride anywhere within the 23 wards area in Tokyo, the starting point must be the wards of Minato, Chiyoda, Chuo, or Shinjuku. The service is available between 07:00 am and 10:00 pm. The passenger will also get an instant noodle free of charge.

After the launch of this free taxi service in Tokyo, the same service is expected to become available in Kanagawa Prefecture. You would need to pay the difference if you travel outside Tokyo’s 23 wards area. However, if you are travelling within central Tokyo (for example, from Shinjuku to Haneda Airport), your ride would be very economical.

This is how the free taxi looks like.