January 23rd, 2013 at 2:04 am » Comments (7)

It seems to me that giving out subsidies to the taxi companies would discourage people from using the mass transit system that is already subsidized by the government: President Lee Myung-bak rejected a parliament-approved bill that would provide state subsidies to the taxi industry, his spokesman said, a veto that could be overruled by the National Assembly despite criticism that the legislation is an extravagant, populist measure. Lee signed a Cabinet motion urging the parliament to reconsider the bill that calls for including taxis as mass transportation, along with buses,
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June 18th, 2012 at 5:00 pm » Comments (29)

Via a Open Thread reader tip comes news that a nationwide taxi strike may happen in the near future: Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) plans to increase the operation of alternative transportation after taxi drivers announced they would go on a nationwide strike Wednesday. The drivers want the government to lower the price of gas and hike taxi fares. Over 200,000 private and public taxi drivers are expected to gather in Seoul. “There are a total of 290,000 taxi drivers nationwide and we expect many of them to gather in Seoul
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November 4th, 2011 at 9:12 am » Comments (75)

Via the Marmot’s Hole comes the latest taxi cab related incident: And in the latest USFK caper, police in Yongsan are investigating four US soldiers, including a 21-year-old female soldier identified as F, for allegedly assaulting a taxi driver and one of the police officers who were dispatched to the scene. According to NoCut News, after a night of drinking, F and her posse tried to take a cab near Itaewon Station (gee, go figure?) to return to their base in Uijeongbu at 1 am Sunday. They haggled with the
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April 4th, 2011 at 6:18 am » Comments (25)

I wonder if there is more to this story?: A South Korean local court on Monday sentenced two soldiers of the U.S. Forces Korea to two-year suspended prison terms for beating a taxi driver last year. The American soldiers, identified only by their initials J and C, were charged with injuring a cab driver who had refused to take them to Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, just north of Seoul, in June last year. The reason the driver denied service to the soldiers is unknown, according to the statement released
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April 5th, 2010 at 4:45 pm » Comments (14)

Whenever I am in Korea I have never had a problem with the on post taxi’s but this posting on the USFK Facebook site shows that there may be a problem on Yongsan: Yesterday I was at Osan, I took Taxi #3071 from the BX to the main gate. The fare everytime has been $2.30. When we arrived at the drop point the meter read $2.30, but the driver did something when reaching for change and the meter then read $2.90. I wrote down his number, took it to the
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March 26th, 2010 at 8:42 am » Comments (7)

It looks like GI’s aren’t the only ones with a beef with taxi drivers in Korea: Two days ago, Motoko Watanabe and her husband arrived in Seoul from their hometown in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. Since hearing of close friends’ pleasant experiences in Seoul, they figured the short trip to Korea would give them the most bang for their buck. But what was supposed to be an affordable three days of sightseeing and shopping around the popular shopping districts Myeong-dong and Namdaemun, turned into a budget buster the middle-class newlyweds did
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March 10th, 2010 at 6:27 am » Comments (27)

Here is an unfortunate accident that has left one airmen in critical condition at the hospital: A Kunsan airman remains in critical condition after a Sunday night taxi crash left him and a second airman hospitalized, according to the base and local police. The airmen were returning from downtown Gunsan City when the crash occurred about 11:30 p.m., according to a base news release. The taxi they were riding in was found upside down about five miles from base, near the A-Town or International Culture Ville bar and restaurant district,
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December 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm » Comments (0)

Busan call: Cabbies of a new taxi brand “Busan Call” take part in the launching ceremony in Busan, Wednesday. This is the second “quality” taxi service in Busan following “Deungdae Call” launched in April. These taxies take fares using credit cards and provide custom-tailored services.  [Korea Times]