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Taxpayers’ money should be better spent

Posted October. 03, 2015 07:21,   

한국어

There are no better places than the vicinity of Gangnam or Hongik University subway stations to enjoy what Koreans call “burning Friday night.” From office workers with untied neckties, stylish women armed with “brand-new It items,” undergraduates who forget anxiety for getting job to couples out for movie night, the places are flooded with people who came out for Friday night. The joviality, however, doesn’t last long as the war to return home is waiting for them to take their excitement away. Catching a taxi, in particular, seems to be less than one in a million chances.

In an effort to solve the difficulties of getting a taxi late night, the city of Seoul has decided to give financial incentive to taxi drivers who take on passengers at Gangnam subway station Friday night. The drivers will be given 3,000 Korean won (approx. 2.5 U.S. dollars) every time they take on passengers at Happy Zone (a dedicated taxi stand) in Gangnam subway station area between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. Two weeks ago, the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed the revised bill for basic taxi ordinance, which allows certain budget to be spent on easing the difficulties of using night-time taxi in Seoul. The test operation of the bill begins at the end of October and the expected budget for Gangnam area alone is some 187 million won (approx. 15.8 million dollars) per year.

Taxis in Gangnam area are infamous for rejecting passengers. With “vacant” light on, they choose passengers and explicitly force first passenger to share the car with another one whose destination is on the similar route. The data that Seoul submitted during the inspection of government offices last month showed that some 45,750 taxis in Seoul were caught for rejecting passengers from 2012 to August this year. The area near Hongik University station was the first to reject the biggest number of passengers, followed by Gangnam and Jongno subway stations. According to enforcement ordinance for the development of taxi transportation, a taxi driver who is caught for rejecting passengers for the first time is imposed with 200,000 won (approx. 169 dollars) in fine. For the second time, the driver’s license is to be suspended for 30 days, while his license is to be canceled with 600,000 won (approx. 507 dollars) in fine if caught for the third time. It turned out that less than 10 percents of drivers were in fact imposed of actual penalty. It’s dumbfounding that Seoul has decided to give financial support with tax payers’ money, not much-needed punishment, to taxi drivers who reject passengers.

Seoul once tried measures that allow taxi sharing in Gangnam station areas after midnight on Fridays. The measure was not taken due to strong opposition from the public and ineffectiveness of countermeasure that only allows taxi sharing with same genders to prevent sexual assault. The difficulty of getting taxis at night time is caused by temporary unbalance between supply and demand. It can never be solved by a “stopgap measure” that grants 3,000 won financial support with taxpayers’ money. We do not pay our money to be spent in this way.



shchung@donga.com