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Ghostinthemachine

Joined: 22 Jun 2003

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:05 pm Post subject:

Hey iwacima 'fraid I can't offer you any advice but I just wanted to weigh in and offer my sympathy. What a crappy thing to happen! If the driver had any decency he'd have handed in your passport.

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject:

Ghostinthemachine wrote:

If the driver had any decency he'd have handed in your passport. Evil or Very Mad

If you were a taxi driver and you were just stiffed on a fare, would you be so quick to do that?

The Man known as The Man

Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Location: 3 cheers for Ted Haggard oh yeah!

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:44 pm Post subject:

Gord wrote:

Ghostinthemachine wrote:

If the driver had any decency he'd have handed in your passport. Evil or Very Mad

If you were a taxi driver and you were just stiffed on a fare, would you be so quick to do that?

Yes. I am the reincarnation of Ghandi, and not the chick.

iwacima

Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject:

Gord wrote:

Ghostinthemachine wrote:

If the driver had any decency he'd have handed in your passport. Evil or Very Mad

If you were a taxi driver and you were just stiffed on a fare, would you be so quick to do that?

I don't think I tried to stiff him. He wanted an additional 10,000won on top of the 31,000won fare.

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:44 pm Post subject:

iwacima wrote:

I don't think I tried to stiff him. He wanted an additional 10,000won on top of the 31,000won fare.

The meter rate is strictly for in-city fares and you took a Seoul taxi into another city. In Korea, when you take a taxi out of the city and into another you pay a surcharge simply because the driver then has to drive back or sit around wherever you went to until they get a fare back to Seoul. Normally they tell you the rate up front, but not always because to major locations all the taxi drivers generally charge the same surcharge so sometimes it's overlooked and simply billed upon arrival.

So, yes, you stiffed him. You didn't realize you were, but you did.

If you wanted to only pay the meter rate, you would have needed to have taken an Incheon taxi which could be found around many local subway stations, or just had someone phone a taxi company and see if they have an Incheon taxi already in Seoul near you that would pick you up.

iwacima

Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:41 pm Post subject:

Gord wrote:

iwacima wrote:

I don't think I tried to stiff him. He wanted an additional 10,000won on top of the 31,000won fare.

Yes, I understand that taxi drivers traveling from one city to another city will charge a surcharge because there is a probability that they may not find someone who wants to go back to the originating city. However, for Seoul taxi drivers at the Incheon Airport it's very easy to find a return fare as most people who are wanting a taxi at the airport are probably going to Seoul.
Also, yesterday when I came back to Seoul, I went to the Korean Tourist Organization near city hall to get telephone numbers of the Taxi Drivers Association and the Police Station to inquire if someone turned in a passport. The women there were amazingly helpful. They called various taxi companies for me and the police. They also said that it was "strange" for the taxi driver to want 10,000won. One of them said sometimes maybe 5,000won, but their feeling was 10,000won was too much.
I'm not looking for an argument. It's just that I don't think I stiffed him, considering he never mentioned any surcharge when he picked me up (I told him I was going to Incheon Airport even before I loaded my baggage into his taxi) and the chances of him finding a fare back to Seoul from the airport at 9:30am are high. To top if off, he let me off on the arrival level and not the departure level, I presume to get another fare without even having to circle the airport in order to return to a different level.

.

J.B. Clamence

Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:45 pm Post subject:

iwacima wrote:

for Seoul taxi drivers at the Incheon Airport it's very easy to find a return fare as most people who are wanting a taxi at the airport are probably going to Seoul.

Are Seoul taxis allowed to queue at Incheon airport?

iwacima

Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

J.B. Clamence wrote:

iwacima wrote:

for Seoul taxi drivers at the Incheon Airport it's very easy to find a return fare as most people who are wanting a taxi at the airport are probably going to Seoul.

Are Seoul taxis allowed to queue at Incheon airport?

Legally, I don't think they can. But I'm not sure. Usually the driver goes inside the airport and asks random people if they are wanting a taxi to Seoul.

.

J.B. Clamence

Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:50 pm Post subject:

iwacima wrote:

Legally, I don't think they can. But I'm not sure. Usually the driver goes inside the airport and asks random people if they are wanting a taxi to Seoul.

Well there is the answer then. Taxi touting at Incheon airport is illegal. There are signs up there that say as much. The only legal taxis are in the queue, so if Seoul taxis can't queue up there, then he should have been entitled to a surcharge.

iwacima

Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:31 pm Post subject:

J.B. Clamence wrote:

iwacima wrote: