The Seoul city government will temporarily lift operation restrictions for privately-owned taxis amid rising demand for night time transportation amid the nation's transition into living with COVID-19.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday, the existing requirement for privately-owned taxis to take every third day off will be lifted at night from Tuesday until January 1.

This means all private cabs will be allowed to operate from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. even on their off-days.

According to city officials, the average daily cab usage between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. shot up 75-point-five percent to 28-thousand-972 rides in the first week of this month, compared to 16-thousand-510 in October.

Meanwhile, the number of taxis operating at night in the capital city fell more than five-thousand-500 compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

In December, the city government will also operate "night owl" bus services to meet year-end demand, adding 13 more buses to the city's eight bus routes and temporarily introducing three.