Taxis Covet Bus-Only Lane
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A bill has been proposed to allow taxis to use central bus-only lanes, igniting a debate among taxi and bus drivers.
Rep. Huh Tae-yeol proposed the bill for legislation at the National Assembly, claiming that taxis should be regarded as one of the major forms of public transportation and so should be allowed to use the central bus-only lane for faster service, except during rush hour.
The proposed bill is expected to trigger fierce lobbying from all interest groups.
``We have been asking for permission to use the central bus-only lane for years,'' said Lee Hee-chun, regional section director of the Seoul Taxi Transportation Association. ``Who wants to use a taxi that's slower than a bus?''
He claimed public transportation polices have long neglected taxis, only focusing on the massive transportation of passengers without considering the convenience for citizens. ``Apart from the busy rush hours, you can see buses with few passengers on them dominating the bus-only lanes, which is a waste of public property,'' Lee said.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has been building central lanes for buses since early 2000 to ease traffic jams and improve walking conditions for pedestrians. According to the city government, the new system has increased the number of bus passengers by over 30 percent. But it has consequently led to a decrease in the number of taxi passengers.
Bus drivers are strongly opposing the bill, criticizing that the permission will soon lead to more accidents and traffic jams, consequently making the central bus-only system useless.
``It is so obvious that taxis in the central bus-only lane will cause more accidents as they have to dangerously swift lanes to take passengers,'' Yoon Gyeong-han, vice-director at the Seoul Bus Transportation Association, said. ``The bus-only lanes will be also full if the 50,000 taxis in the city use them. The bus-only lane system has just made buses a reliable form of public transport, which I think should be well maintained.''
Many citizens are lukewarm toward the allowance of taxis in the central bus-only lane for fear of traffic jams.
``Since the launch of the bus-only lane, buses have become more reliable transportation, much faster than before,'' Kim Young-joon, an office worker in Seoul, said. ``But I think there will be traffic jams if taxis use the bus-only lanes.''