Seoul city government will keep on its crackdown against the illegal call vans. (image: kobizmedia)
SEOUL, Korea, Feb. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – As there still exist illegally operating call vans exploiting foreign tourists, the Seoul Metropolitan City Government lifted a whip, warning them it would revoke their business licenses.
A call van is a six-seater cargo taxi on which any passenger with baggage weighing more than 20 kg can take and some 800 such taxis are in operation in Seoul. It was intended for passengers with heavy bags, but abusing its similar appearance with larger taxis, some call van drivers take foreign tourists without baggage and make them pay higher fares than they should.
Call van’s fare is negotiable by the distance and the weight of the cargo, but some drivers install tampered taximeters and overcharge the passengers. Also, some drivers put a “taxi” sign on the sides of the call vans rather than cargo or freight and induce foreign passengers to mistakenly take them as regular taxis. Even, some drivers place the taxi sign on top of the car roof.
To prevent these illegal practices, the Seoul city government is consistently cracking down on them. Last year, 166 call vans were caught by city officials including 87 cases of not showing cargo signs, 19 cases of tampered taximeters and nine cases of absence of partition between cargo and passenger seats, and on the like.
To root out these shady practices, the city government strengthened administrative measures to suspend 60 days of service at the first violation and revoke business licenses at the second infraction. Previously, the government could only warn the driver to correct the wrong signs at the first instance and fine 600,000 won (about US$562) and 60 day-suspension of the service at the second violation.
Also, call van drivers are also joining the city’s efforts to clear out confusion with the larger taxis and call vans such as placing a sign saying “Cargo” (“Xiaoxing Huoche” or “Xiaoxing Huowuche” in Chinese).
Thanks to the efforts, the cases of illegality are in decline. Given many tourists are coming to Seoul with the Korean Wave, the city government will keep on its crackdown against the illegal call vans. To get rid of overcharging, the government will try to establish a rule to punish the drivers without exception.
A Seoul official said, “Overcharging runs Seoul’s image much down, so we will make much reinforced administrative punishment with help from the police. We will take all our authority for the clean business atmosphere of the call vans.”
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