No More Taxi Rip-Offs? Seoul Makes a Bold Move for Foreign Passengers

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has introduced new measures aimed at eliminating overcharging practices targeting foreign taxi passengers by improving fare transparency through bilingual receipts.

According to the city on January 20, Seoul worked with taxi payment terminal operator Tmoney Mobility to revise taxi receipt formats starting last month. Under the new system, key information—including the final fare, pick-up and drop-off times, and whether a surcharge was applied—is displayed in both Korean and English.

Previously, taxi receipts were issued only in Korean and did not clearly indicate surcharge application, making it difficult for foreign passengers to verify charges. This gap had allowed some drivers to misuse surcharge settings and collect unfair fares.

The city also standardized fare-related terminology across platforms. Terms such as “Meter Fare” and “Toll Fee” are now uniformly used, replacing inconsistent labels previously shown by different taxi platforms. In addition, major ride-hailing apps—including K.Ride, TABA, Tada, and Onda—now clearly separate driving fares from paid road tolls. Earlier versions of these apps displayed only the driving fare, making it harder for foreign users to detect improper toll charges.

Seoul has also been operating a “Taxi QR Complaint System” since June last year to allow foreign passengers to report issues more easily. From June through last month, the city received 487 reports, and after investigation, eight cases were confirmed as violations and resulted in administrative penalties. In one case, a driver was fined after inflating a metered fare of 32,600 won to 56,000 won.

City officials stated that Seoul plans to strengthen enforcement against illegal taxi practices while continuing to improve guidance on reporting procedures for foreign passengers, with the goal of creating a safer and more transparent taxi environment for international visitors.