Seoul city gov`t to limit buses from going above 80km/hour

A self-employed woman, 34, said she often felt fear in her car due to taxis and buses she encountered in her commute. She complained of feeling heavy stress due to cabs that recklessly cut her off without using turn signals.

Public transportation provides a convenient alternative for Koreans, but many suffer inconvenience due to reckless driving habits and lack of hospitality among certain taxi and bus drivers.

Operators in charge of Seoul`s public transportation gathered to sign a treaty on safe driving and improved services in joining The Dong-A Ilbo’s perennial campaign dubbed “Stop! Bad Driving Practices.”

Attending the ceremony at Seoul City Hall on Monday were Yoon Joon-byeong, chief of the city’s urban transportation headquarters; Yoo Han-cheol, chairman of the Seoul Intra-city Bus Transportation Cooperative; Gong Gi-bok, head of the Seoul Shuttle Bus Transportation Cooperative; Kim Myeong-soo, leader of the Seoul Taxi Transportation Cooperative; Yoo Seung-woo, executive director of a privately owned Seoul taxi cooperative; Ryu Geun-jung, head of the city`s bus drivers’ union; Kim Yong-han, head of the Seoul-Gyeonggi Province Shuttle Bus Drivers’ Union; Kang Shin-pyo, chief of the Seoul chapter of the National Union of Taxi Drivers; and Jeong Ji-goo, Seoul branch chief of the Democratic Taxi Drivers Union.

The city will install a system that limits the speed of all buses to 80 kilometers per hour by year’s end. Training on safety and hospitality will be offered to all people in the transportation industry. Another idea is to consider in evaluations of taxi companies for providing subsidies the number of cases in which drivers illegally pre-selected picking up passengers and overcharged fares, and whether they followed rules.

Yoon of the city`s urban transportation headquarters said, “As suggested by Dong-A`s ‘Stop! Bad Driving Practices’ campaign, the public transportation community needs to make efforts to ensure the establishment of a sound transportation culture,” adding, “Let’s get rid of the bad reputation that public transportation is the main culprit behind bad driving by providing safe and friendly driving and service.”

pjw@donga.com