And they travel in groups. Just maybe, groups large enough to fill the seats in those taxis.

The Korea Times also made a big deal of this fact. But isn’t that what makes a taxi a taxi? Do you not pay for all four seats if you’re alone in a taxi car?

(Could you and the world please take care with your ‘then’ and ‘than’!)

Of the Korea Times’ article (Tuesday 9 October), I think it was rather silly that they justify the scheme based on the success of water transport in Venice! Even when they went to get a quote from someone at the Italian embassy it seems that person neglected to tell them some of the differences between Seoul and Venice; largely that Seoul is an inland city with wide roads in every direction through tunnels and over bridges (and perhaps soon underground, too) for it’s millions of cars and thousands of buses and taxis, one of the world’s biggest metropolitan railway systems, but with just a single navigable waterway, while Venice is a city built on hundreds of low islands in an offshore lagoon where there aren’t roads, cars or even bikes, and boats are the only method of transport to and from many parts of the city.

I think Seoul’s water taxis will be gone by the end of next year.

Rather unsurprisingly, no one here has considered the positive impact this could have on bike commuting. I have a Dahon folding bike with 20″ wheels, it collapses down rather small. I can bike to the Mangwon pier in less than 10 minutes. But… would they allow me on with my folded bike? What if it were in a bag?

I’ll bet that these water taxis are going to be mostly busy running back and forth from Tkukseom Park and Yeouinaru Station. It’s the sole commuter route (”express shuttle” on the official site) and will cost 5,000 won. A helluva deal for the time savings.

Meanwhile, if I want to go from Mangwon to Jamsil Pier it’s going to cost me 57,700 won, unless I’ve got 6 other people wanting to go there too. This option is much less appealing and rather expensive, unless you’re taking one of the quick routes across the river. But even a relatively short ride from Mangwon to Yeouinaru is 13,600.

Aside from the commuter line, I would have preferred to have seen this service designed to be more like what I’ve seen in Bangkok with larger boats and drastically lower fares. A “bus” service rather than taxi.

There isn’t an “original article”. There are several versions written by several reporters. Now the article I linked says that all seven passengers have to be present, and BTW, the reason the Korean government set up this service for the tourists you claim do not exist is so that the tourists can avoid the rush hour traffic. That and the fact that it can be used as a form of mass transit, however as I said, it is doubtful whether the mass transit idea will take off.

That’s one of the things that went through my mind when I saw this particular news items.