Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dev]

My friend and I got a taxi ride from Itaewon at 1 am on a Saturday (really Sunday I guess) and the driver asked me a question that seemed to be really out of the ball park. "Do you mind if I pick up some more passengers. It's raining."

Seeing the empty passenger seat and not really knowing whether this is a good idea or not, I just trust the driver and nod "yes".

He stopped and asked a couple of people where they wanted to go. They weren't going our way, so he went on to ask some other people. Finally, he finds a woman going in our way. He lets her in the front seat.

We get to our mutual destination. I am thinking we're going to get some kind of discount for sharing our taxi. Instead, the driver tells us we should pay the full price on the meter. He proceeds to double up on the fare by charging the lady he picked up the same fare, but giving her a 2,000 won discount (because he picked her up on the way). "What a rat!" was all I could think. Now I try to avoid using taxis in this country as much as I can.

On two other locations, I have been refused a ride on the grounds that I wasn't going far enough. Korean taxi drivers are really something.

Now I hear that there are all kinds of secret codes taxi drivers use to score extra money at night.

Hail a taxi with two fingers and you've agreed to pay double the cost on the meter.

Hail a taxi with 3 fingers and you've agreed to pay triple the fare.

That's some thing else isn't, it?

[the eye]

No, it isn't. It's been going on for years.

If the driver picks up another fare on the way, that fare is charged the meter amount when they reach their destination, minus the amount whenthey entered trhe cab. You are then charged your meter rate when you reach YOUR destination.

You can refuse any new pickups.
Take a 'geh-in' taxi. (개인) They have the green roof signs. They are less likely to pull that stunt.
'Geh-in' means private.

And no, i'm not talking about the deluxe taxis.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[bixlerscott]

I chewed a cabbie out for doing this and demanded he stop if he was going to go in the opposite direction and charge me for it. We were about 1 KM in the opposite direction I needed to go and I yelled at him after talking about it, opened my door while the car was going, and he stopped to let me out without paying jack shit; no questions asked. I am a fighter against those out to screw me. Most cabbies seem like very sincerely good guys though, in my experieces.

[Ilsanman]

There's something about Korea that is rarely let known to foreigners.

In the 70's and 80's, foreigners were actually rich. Their job was envied. What a fall from grace.

Now look at them? With high unemployment rates, there are way too many taxi drivers. They're trying to make an honest living, but lets face it, this is Korea. Being honest doesn't make a living. In almost any field.

[ron_j]

[Dev]

[esetters21]

[Dev]

[toddswift]

Man, this place is TAXI HEAVEN! No joke. Have you ever tried to hail a cab or a tuk tuk in India? Those are the as&)*)(. Or Italy, man those rats will try to really give it to you, or what about an airport in Spain, or even Bangkok (those drivers will refuse to use the meter unless you say METER). At least at the airport the drivers here all use the meter, and there is no negotiating at all.

[pkang0202]

I've had it done to me before. It didn't bother me. Especially since the taxi driver asked me first if it was OK.

[PBRstreetgang21]

I cant really criticize this practice because Ive been the second person that was picked up before (and the people we joined were koreans). I dont see what the big deal is. Ok these people are going in the same direction, but why should that impact your fare? I mean you have to go wherever it is you're gonna go, and you'd have to pay that no matter what. If the person they picked up was going to the exact same place as you, then I can understand why it would be sketchy that two fares are being paid rather than split, but if they are just along for your ride, till they can take theirs, where's the foul?

[Odannyboy]

todd swift has it right...this place is heaven...especially compared to India
where the drivers either won't stop for you or they'll run you in circles
dropping all the locals first...

spend a half-hour for a ten minute ride...

but in Korea...always avoid the ones that come up to you at Seoul
Station...they're always saying forty or fifty dollars for a manwon ride...

in fact my general rule is if a taxi driver approaches me I walk the other way!!

[aphong420]

So yeah - after a St. Patty's party in Seoul this past weekend ... we got into a cab a little tipsy. Thinking that we wouldn't notice - the cab drive, in a clear attempt to up the meter price, proceeded to drive around the block a couple of times before finally taking us to our destination. At one point we called him out on it and made him turn on his GPS device, which started beeping at him because he was going the wrong way.

Watch out, cab drivers - not only in Korea - will scam you if they think you're oblivious.

[steroidmaximus]

welcome to the world.