Taxi services not on par with fares

A woman holding her daughter tries to catch a cab in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, in this file photo. She complained taxi drivers refused to give her a ride. / Korea Times

Drivers need to do more to address passengers' inconveniences

By Baek Byung-yeul, Nam Hyun-woo, Park Ji-won

Citizens using taxis in Korea have long complained that the service they receive does not merit the fare they pay.

Customers say they have experienced all kinds of inconveniences such as taxis refusing to pick them up, smoking drivers, traffic light violations and speeding.

Some even say they have been unfairly charged higher fares because of deliberate detouring by some drivers.

To address those and other problems, the Seoul metropolitan government and other municipalities worked together last month to crack down on taxi drivers refusing to take passengers to certain destinations.

This came after the municipal authorities increased the basic taxi fare in October in a move designed to provide drivers with more stable income and improve the quality of services to passengers. Seoul raised the basic fare from 2,400 to 3,000 won on Oct. 12.

And to convince citizens that the fare hike is producing results, Seoul city officials released a report showing that the number of reported complaints about taxi services between Oct. 12 and Nov. 12 decreased by 14.4 percent from the same period last year.

It also announced that average daily income of 20,228 surveyed taxi drivers in Seoul has gone up by 3.9 percent from 145,000 won ($136) to 150,655 won ($142) since the fare increase.

Despite the report, many passengers are not convinced that the quality of taxi service has improved.

Service quality yet to improve

During the early morning hours in busy nightlife areas such as Gangnam or Hongdae, it is very easy to find people desperate to grab a taxi, but being repeatedly refused by taxi drivers.

Passengers say the most common reason they are not given rides is that their destination is not far enough away.

Kim Min-su, a 30-year-old graduate student, said he often gets home only after several taxis have ignored him.

Last Tuesday, Kim tried to ride a taxi from Itaewon to Sillim, the southwestern part of Seoul, at around 3 a.m., after having a late-night drink with friends.

After several taxi drivers refused to take him, Kim eventually managed to get a ride but only because of a twist of fate.

"The driver said he carried me just because he and I were heading in the same direction. He added he would have rejected me if I were to say go further, because he was about to finish his shift," Kim said.

Kim Keun-hyeong, a 20-year-old college student, also had to walk six kilometers from Jongno to Jeongneung, after several taxies refused to pick her up in the central area of Seoul last week.

Whenever she tried to grab a cab, she was asked where she was headed and was refused by drivers saying there would be no passengers to pick up in Jeongneung after she disembarked.

"It just doesn't make sense that I was rejected only because there would be no one waiting for a taxi around my home," she said.

The refusal to carry passengers is not the only complaint about poor taxi service.
Bae Jung-ah, a 31-year-old woman who is five months pregnant, said she had to get out of a cab on her way to the hospital due to the smell of cigarette smoke in the car.

"As a pregnant woman, I try to avoid second-hand smoking as much as I can. But some drivers still smoke inside their taxi and that was a disgusting experience for me and my baby."

"I don't see any correction or improvement in the quality of taxi services. It happened after Seoul taxis started to charge an extra 600 won last month under the name of quality service, which shouldn't be like this," Bae said.

So-called "bullet taxi drivers" are also persona non grata for passengers.
Hyun Seung-pil, a 34-year-old working at an IT company in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, grabbed a taxi after working overtime at night last week. On his way home to Hyehwa-dong, about 15 kilometers from his workplace, he couldn't let go of the door grip, let alone get some sleep, because his taxi driver was recklessly speeding.

"I was so scared. I asked the driver to slow down, but he didn't listen to what I said," Hyun said. He said he could read the speedometer indicating over 150 kilometers per hour, exceeding the legal maximum speed of 80.

"From honking his horn at cars ahead of him and ignoring traffic lights to extreme speeding, the driver did everything typically bad drivers do," he said.

"Thanks to his over-speeding, I arrived home earlier than expected, but I felt as if my lifespan was shortened by about 10 years," said Hyun, shaking his head.

Suffering taxi drivers

While passengers complain there has been little or no improvement in taxi services since the basic fare increase, drivers counter there are reasons why they cannot provide better service.

A taxi driver, identifying himself only by his surname Jung, said raising the basic fare only benefited taxi company owners, not the drivers.

"As the basic fare increased, we had to turn a bigger share of fares over to the company," he said.

"This is why we prefer to have passengers who go longer distances, because we get paid more. If we drive customers short distances or to lonesome places, we have to come back to busy areas without any passengers," Jung said.

He said taxi drivers have to pay 100,000 won to 120,000 won from their daily receipts to the company. In return for that, they are paid some 700,000 won as a monthly salary. With that monthly salary and additional daily income combined, they earn approximately 2 to 2.3 million won after deducting expenses such as insurance premiums.

Jung said the daily amount going to the company will soon increase by about 25,000 won, in connection with the basic fare hike. He said that it will be an extra burden for him and his fellow drivers.

Another taxi driver, Lee Jong-won, said that he tries to give quality service to his customers, but complained that he is not making enough money.

"I hardly refuse passengers. As fewer people take taxis than before due to the slumping economy, it is very hard to find customers. Many people choose the bus or subway," Lee said.

Taxi companies deny allegations that they provide poor service while generating a huge profits.

"We are losing customers as the basic fare increased. There is no reason for us to refuse passengers even if they only want to go a short distance," said an official from a taxi company, Shinyoung Transportation, based in Nowon-gu, northern Seoul.

"We do know that there are reported cases of passengers being refused. However, most cases are related to intoxicated customers or those who could pose a threat to drivers' safety. We have always encouraged our drivers to provide high quality services to our customers," he added.

A taxi driver in his 70s described the situation as a vicious cycle that never stops.
"The taxi fare rate is one of the indexes affecting the country's inflation rate. If the fare rises, other prices of daily commodities go up, which leaves taxi drivers' income almost unchanged," he said.

"Unless radical reform of the country's taxi system is made, this situation will not change for the better," he added.

Eight students of Hankyong National University contributed to the above report. They are among 15 students majoring in English at the university who took part in an internship training program at The Korea Times. They are Kim Keun-young, Kim Sun-woo, Maeng Cho-rong, Lee Mi-jung, Kim Ji-eun, Park Min-hee, Gil Hye-won and Kim Sun-hui. ― ED.