Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

The Korean Federation of Taxi Worker's Unions (KFTWU), an affiliate of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) made demands Monday. The KFTWU said if its demands are not accepted, it would go on a general strike on June 16. The KFTWU said that poor working conditions in the taxi business are the reason for Korea being the No.1 country in traffic accidents, and thus, to clear its name, the first thing to be done is reduce the working hours of taxi workers and guarantee wages that enable them to make ends meet. It has 22,000 members from 250 companies.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200405/200405100038.html

[ryleeys]

Um, maybe Korea is number 1 in traffic accidents because the taxi drivers are horrible drivers, the pizza delivery guys are horrible drivers, Korean women are horrible drivers, Korean men are horrible drivers, red lights are optional, turn signals are optional, and most importantly, I have never once seen a police officer issue a traffic citation.






(oh yeah, the police are horrible drivers too)

[keithinkorea]

The only way they can actually earn a living in Seoul is to drive really fast, some Seoul taxi drivers drive fast and well whilst the majority are rotten and half the time they're driving the car illegally.

I'd pay a little more for the ride if I knew I was going to arrive in one piece. The number one cause of accidents on the road in Korea is probably alchohol and inexperienced, thoughtless drivers who dont read the road.

I've generally had good experiences with taxi drivers since my Korean got to a tolerable standard, before my basic Korean and poor pronunciation led to many headaches. I feel sorry for Korean taxi drivers, imagine your job being driving around Seoul all day for a pittance of a wage. English teachers have a much easier life than these poor folks do, at least I know I do.

[Real Reality]

A Taxi Driver's Soliloquy
An ordinary driver earns less than 1 million won ($830) a month for their 12 hours on average of stressful labor at the wheel a day?

There are a total of 70,000 taxis in Seoul at present. Of them, about 46,000 are "individual" taxis, each owned by one licensed driver, and the remaining 24,000 are "company" taxis. In Seoul 55,000 taxis hit the streets of the capital city every day, carrying estimated about 2 million passengers, and about 6 million nationwide. My house is about a 10-minute taxi ride from my workplace. The fare ranges from 3,000 won to 3,200 won, depending on traffic signals.

"What's more serious is that there is no sign of things getting better at all for the days to come. What shall I do?" he asked. I could not just nod. What could I say in response to the depressed driver? He went on: "You must know better than me for I think you work at a newspaper company. You see...what the politicians are doing all the way is to fight for a bigger slice of the pie for themselves. They do not care about the hard lives of low-income people like me at all.

To the eyes of the driver and most other cabbies I met recently, the national economy is at its worst, worse than the days of the 1997-1998 currency crisis.

The traffic conditions for the taxi business is bad due to the restoration work of Chonggyechon Stream in the heart of the capital city. But basically, the number of taxi passengers is decreasing. This shows the economy is not in good shape.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200402/kt2004020317130211330.htm

[Kristsoy]

that's not what i heard... I heard they make about 2 million working about 60-70 a week though, which most probably do, rediculous hours, but drivers back home dont make much either and their basic is $3

[sadsac]

It's not just Korea. Driving a taxi would suck anywhere in the world. Back home it is the only job that you can refuse and still get you unemployment.

[hellofaniceguy]

We already know that korean taxi and bus drivers are stupid. I hear the arguement all the time, "we are busy and have to make money so we need to drive fast." How uneducated are these drivers? People?
Like the taxi and bus drives in England are not busy? Or New York? LA? Montreal? Paris? They are busy all over the world, you idiot korean drivers! But, in most civilized countries, they do not seem to have has many bad drivers as in korea! The reputation for being the worst drivers/accidents is your own fault!
In driving school and when you take your WRITTEN and driving test, does it include driving motorcycles on the sidewalk? Running red lights? Beeping the horn telling people to get out of the crosswalk? Does it teach you to park any where you damm please? Does it teach you that cars have priority over pedestrians?
Koreans; you are your own worst enemies.

[Real Reality]

Kristsoy wrote,
"that's not what i heard... I heard they make about 2 million"
I have heard something similar from taxi drivers, too. Is the article wrong? In fact, one time I told a taxi driver my salary and he was shocked. He asked several times to make sure he understood. He explained that he sometimes earned the same amount but sometimes he earned more. He could not believe how low the salary is for a foreign instructor.

[just because]

Cabbies do cop a bit of the rough end of the stick here and yes there are some suicidal taxi drivers.

The reason Korea is number in traffic accidents is because most are first generation drivers meaning nobody in their family before them drove a car.

They are still relatively new to the practice and couple it with the Korean bali bali syndrome and the product of their driving is all around us.

The only way Koreans will become better drivers is by implementing the road rules much more effectively with hidden speed cameras(not ones that give you 1500 metre warnings),etc. and with practice.

[kangnamdragon]

[hellofaniceguy]

Say What!!! Koreans don't have any experience in driving or they don't have a long history of driving so that's the reason for many accidents! How foolish!
What's a long history have to do with driving! Either you drive correctly or you don't! Nothing to do with a country's history of driving.
You take a 30 year old korean and a 30 year old Canadian, European, American, Ausie, etc. who have been driving for the same amount of years, I'll bet you the korea has the most accidents and terrible skills.
You can't tell me that koreans learn to drive badly in driving school! What happen to all they learned? And the written test? Did they suddenly forget what the answers were once they got their license! I expect bad drivers in a third world country. That's acceptable. So tell me korea, are you not third world? Driving habits sure are!

[weatherman]

[Mankind]

A driver in Ansan and I talked once. He was taking me to work. Went something like this:

You teach at the college?
Yes
You must be rich.
No
How much you make?
2.2 plus housing and a lot of vacation.
2.2 that can't be right.
Ya thats it.
You should quit and go to a hogwan.
why?
Hogwan teacher gets 6-7 million a month.
No they don't.
Yes they do.
Where did you hear that?
The owner of my daughter hogwan told me. Everyone knows.
He lied, most only get 2.0 million.
Really?
Yes, owners tell you that to justify high prices.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, thank you

During the converstations I've had with driver 2 is a bad month 3 is about average 4 is great. Maybe 50 driver polled. Ansan Pusan Seoul

HAND

[Gwangjuboy]

[Real Reality]

Gwangjuboy wrote,
"How you could conclude that our salaries are low is beyon belief. I bet you didn't mentioned the free accomodation either."

Mankind wrote,
"During the converstations I've had with driver 2 is a bad month 3 is about average 4 is great. Maybe 50 driver polled. Ansan Pusan Seoul"