SEOUL: The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday (Jan 20) that it began issuing bilingual taxi receipts in December 2025 to curb a rise in complaints over taxi drivers overcharging foreign national passengers.
The new receipts include English translations of the total fare, pick-up and drop-off times, late-night and out-of-district surcharges, as well as information on how to report cases of overcharging.
The city also requested that private taxi-hailing platforms such as Kakao Mobility and Tada offer fare breakdowns in English.
The city said foreign passengers are more vulnerable to overcharging because current taxi receipts are issued only in Korean, leaving many unaware of how fares and surcharges are calculated.
According to city data, 487 cases of alleged overcharging were reported by foreign national passengers between June and December 2025, following the launch of the city’s QR-based taxi complaint system.
The city government said it is investigating the reported cases and imposing fines when overcharging is confirmed.
As part of its outreach efforts, the city has completed the installation of complaint-guidance stickers inside 71,000 taxis across Seoul. It has also put up banners and posters at 78 taxi stands near major tourist areas and at 11 districts frequently visited by foreign travelers, including Myeong-dong, Hongdae and Itaewon.
“To break the cycle of illegal taxi practices such as overcharging, we will actively inform foreign passengers of how to report violations and impose stricter penalties on drivers when wrongdoing is confirmed,” said Yeo Jang-kwon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Transportation Bureau.
“As we move toward a new era of tourism, we will do our utmost to create a taxi environment where foreign visitors can travel with greater confidence and convenience.” - The Korea Herald/ANN
