If New York’s got yellow cabs, and London black cabs, Seoul will have orange cabs from next year.
Or so a hearing on “Seoul Taxi Design” held at the Seoul City Hall annex yesterday decided.
Actually, one of the professors who participated said it wouldn’t be orange, per se, but rather a more traditionally Korean version thereof.
I kinda like it, actually.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
A more traditional Korean version of the color “orange” ? Would that be, like, orange ?
You can never understand our orange!
Er, OK. I am sure a color change is going to make them a lot easier to catch at 12pm in Kangnam.
Does this mean too we will have to put up with:
“Jeju, the Hawaii of Korea”
“Lotte World, the Disneyland of Korean”
“Taxi Orange, the orange of Korea”
I bet it will be “Seoul Orange”. Wasn’t there some set of eleventy-billion official colors announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s tourism promotion board?
#2….that’s funny. lol.
@3 First I’ll assume you mean 12 AM in Gangnam, not pm.
Come on people, this is an easy one. If you can’t get a taxi at Kangnam Station around 12AM, walk down the road about 5 minutes in the direction of Yangjae Station. They’ll pick you up there.
Or just lie to the driver and tell him a destination in Kyeonggi-do that happens to be in the same direction as your true destination, once on your way, fake a phone call from your friends and inform your driver of the “change” in destination.
Use one of these techniques and you’ll never have this problem again.
I’d like to see Seoul mandate the use of a more spacious (and taller) vehicle, like the London taxicabs.
More eyewash. How about a substantive change, like getting the motorcycles off the sidewalks and enforcing the law against them when they are in the streets?
Eh, I’ll stick with the black taxis. They always go where I ask and spare me the “whereareyoufromwhatdoyoudoareyoumarried” interrogations.
michael,
I know what you mean. I hate to mingle with the locals, too. And those days I actually have to TALK to them just puts me in a bad mood.
Just so that the rest of the people here know before they shoot their mouths off, the actual translation would be more like ‘It wouldn’t be an actual orange, but a more traditional Korean colors like persimmon or earth yellow.’
It doesn’t look half bad to me either.
LOL D’Baba, I just meant they take me where I ask and are polite, although yes, I can’t stand the locals, they repulse me
I’ve gotten into regular cabs many times only to have them refuse to take me to my destination for no other reason than they don’t want to go there, so screw it, the extra won they charge is worth it sometimes.
I am just back from Tokyo and Nagoya, where one of the cab drivers — in Tokyo — even asked me if I had a preferred “course”. While picking me up at one hotel, and taking me to another one — read “tourist”.
The cab fares were terrifying in Tokyo, and moderately awe-inspiring in Nagoya (basic charge in Tokyo is like 50% higher than in the shticks)… But the drivers were polite, quiet, and tried their best to convey me safely to destination.
“Try our Seoul Orange Taxi. It runs like clockwork.”
I’m sorry some of you have had problems but I can honestly say I have had very few problems with the average cab driver here, after almost ten years, except from the airport and Kangnam after mid-night.
A persimmon color could be nice but does this mean that drivers will need a paint job to comply with this idea?
Will this new color apply to ALL cabs in the city (minus the black deluxe jobbies), or just the legitimate taxis? Although, I guess even the unlicensed guys will get the paint done just to hide among the licensed ones.
Just listen to yourselves! You are talking about the color of a taxi. Don’t you have anything better to do?
Anyway, since we are on the subject, that is an ugly pumpkin color (호박색). Who wants to be seen riding around in a pumpkin cab?
Of course, if you want something traditionally Korean and ugly is not an issue, then add more red and make it a kimchi orange. The name “kimchi cab” rolls off the tongue much easier.
“Who wants to be seen riding around in a pumpkin cab?”
The pumpkin cab is in honor of Cinderella. Didn’t you know Koreans are Cinderella groupies? See has a leading role in every fucking drama on TV here. We get real teary eyed when she marries a rich guy, and we get real angry when the 시어머니(mother-in-law) treats her like a maid.
Korea cabs are among the best in the world for price (no matter what color).
1) They make good time (although some drivers seemed tamer when i recently visited
2) They are cheap! (I never go near taxis in many other cities due to the price)
3) 99.9% of drivers speak the same language as the general population (most cabbies in my city if residence can’t speak English!)
4) Most drivers know their way around
5) They don’t automatically round up your fare and keep change
Admittedly, at night some think they can rip foreigners off and can be elusive around midnight. But no worries using the CMM #6 method.
I’ve lived in 5 countries and Korean cabs are up there with the best.
When you consider the cost, Korean cabs are hard to beat. (I miss paying the 1000 won base fare of a few years ago, but 1900 won is still far cheaper than what you’ll find in other developed countries.) Unless I’m with my son, I’m generally happy about getting places ASAP – Korean drivers are generally pretty good about this. They rarely try to rip me off, but I also speak to them in Korean, so that probably takes care of most potential issues before they can occur. For every shifty, rude cabbie here, I probably get at least ten decent ones. Some of my best conversations in Korea have been with cab drivers. (Former ROK Marines often have some really interesting stories.)
The attitude many drivers have about picking and choosing their fares – especially around Gangnam Station, Shinchon, Gwanghwamun, etc. at night – is annoying, but Koreans and foreigners alike get shafted in this respect. (Late at night, it seems to involve a lot of younger drivers who don’t seem to be the same guy in the picture. Hmmm.) If I’m stuck around City Hall around midnight, I generally walk to Seoul Station, take an express bus home and save some coin, or if it is too late, head on down to Yongsan Station where there are always cabs to be had. Barring downpour weather conditions, walking off a couple of beers worth of calories beats standing around like a tool at Euljiro 1-ga for 45 minutes.
Anyway, changing the color of taxis will, of course, have no impact on improving problems or building on strengths of the present system. But, this sort of cosmetic initiative – in this case, quite literally so – is pretty much par for the course.
“If you can’t get a taxi at Kangnam Station around 12AM, walk down the road about 5 minutes in the direction of Yangjae Station. ”
Or just leave Korea and stop being treated like crap. Your call.
Will new color coordinated “Best Driver” shirts also be issued? Will there still be a gold chain that attaches to the epaulet?
Besides the aforementioned trouble zones, Seoul cabs are the greatest deal in the world. My last year there, 2002, I must have gained 20 lbs just because I never walked anywhere.
I just went outside, stuck up my arm, hopped in a cab and got dropped off immediately outside the next place I was going to.
Fast, efficient, and way cheaper than owning a car and trying to park.
Oh, how I miss my carefree taxi days.
The new shirts will be “World Best Driver” shirts.
Cross the Yellow Sea to enjoy a full “cheap ride” experience.
I remember a few years back when they had the compact size cheap cabs and the sedan sized regular fare cabs. It really makes sense to have a smaller cheaper alternative, considering road congestion and the fact that they usually just pick up one passenger at a time. I propose orange-Matiz ‘Econo-Cabs’ – not much larger than real pumpkins.
#17 When you’re right, you’re right. Why discuss cab colours when we could have another rousing “discussion” on Dokdo for, what, the fiftieth time?
In my time in Korea I generally got good service – Korea had its share of asshats, just like anywhere else, but they were in the minority.
For you who still ride cabs – are there still periodic campaigns against hapsung (different passengers with different destinations in the same cab)?
Seems to me the campaign against it would be rolled out every 6 months or so, so a lot of the drivers would refrain from it for one day or so, then go back to it. Personally, I didn’t mind it.
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