Fare Hike Eats Into Cabbies’ Income
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
A long line of taxis queued up in front of a department store in Myeong-dong late Friday morning. ``I have been waiting for more than 30 minutes but I don't know how much longer I should wait,'' said Kim, a 43-year-old taxi driver who was standing outside his cab.
He and many other cabbies took didn't hesitate to vent their frustration and anger over the hike in taxi rates.
``We are having far fewer customers following the rate hike,'' Kim said. ``It's really painful.''
Seoul City allowed taxi companies suffering from high gas prices to raise the fares despite strong opposition from taxi drivers. The basic fare, charged for the first two kilometers of a trip, rose to 2,400 won (about $1.88) from 1,900 won from June 1, the first hike in four years.
The 500-won hike has been devastating to cabbies, especially those who work for taxi companies.
``The number of passengers usually decreases right after a fare hike. However, it's a lot worse this time,'' said Lee Jae-hwan, 61. ``Officials in Seoul City and the transportation ministry who gave go-ahead to the fare hike are really clueless.''
Lee, an independent cabbie who owns his taxi, said the money he takes home has fallen drastically. ``Instead of raising fares, the government should have taken steps to cut gas prices.''
Double Whammy
Taxi drivers hired by taxi companies have been thrown into an even worse situation as they have to pay more to their employers out of their daily earnings. Of their daily earnings, they previously had to return 91,000-95,000 won to their companies, but the daily payment has risen by about 12,000 won to more than 100,000 won at most taxi firms.
Most drivers working for companies receive about 1 million won in fixed basic salary. They also take home what is left after the daily payment of 100,000 won.
``I earn less after the fare hike due to the decrease in customers, but my company raised the deposit. It's quite hard even to meet the target, let alone take home some money.''
Taxi drivers said that companies raised the daily payment without consulting with trade unions.
``Due to the tight job market, there is a relatively high number of people waiting to be hired by taxi companies. So, companies have stronger bargaining power and raised the daily payment requirement unilaterally, ignoring opposition from the unions,'' said Park, who has been a taxi driver for seven months. He also said he earns about 2 million won a month.
``For whom did the city raise the fare? I took home about 300,000 won less,'' another taxi driver said.
Cho Woon-rae, 60, who has driven a taxi for a decade, said his income has not changed much. ``My income fell a bit. But, usually, July and August are the low season. I think it will be okay after the summer season.''
But when their earnings will rebound remains a question as the number of citizens feeling the fare hike is far from negligible.
``I used to go to my office by taxi, which is a 20-minute walk, once or twice a week in case I got up late. However, now I'm getting up earlier instead of taking a taxi,'' said Nah Ji-young, 27. ``You know I cannot ignore the 500-won rise, even though it's not a big amount.''