SEOUL — A new contracted taxi company will offer airport shuttle vans and a dispatch service for the military communities in Seoul and Area I, AAFES officials said Wednesday.
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service signed a contract Wednesday with FTNH Co. Limited to provide the service at U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan, Camp Casey and Camp Hovey.
The service will begin Nov. 1, giving the two existing taxi companies time to install communications equipment in their cars and the new company time to get the passes they need for the airport shuttle service.
The dispatch service means people won’t have to walk to on-post pickup points to catch a taxi.
"You have an awful lot of people in this community who don’t necessarily live on Yongsan. People at home want to go somewhere in the community, and they just don’t want to walk to one of the six pickup points," said Shawn Dorcy, AAFES general manager at Yongsan Garrison.
The new company will provide approximately 12 to 15 vans to take customers to the airport, depending on demand. Dorcy said vans will be used instead of taxis, because most taxis in South Korea run on propane and have tanks in their trunks that limit space for luggage.
On-base taxi service has been unavailable or scarce much of this year in Area I and in Seoul. AAFES fired its former taxi provider, World Cup Arirang Tourism Co., in June because the company’s drivers had been on strike since April. World Cup drivers also went on strike in 2006, slowing service at bases to a crawl.
AAFES has since hired two taxi companies, and the 128 taxis running at Yongsan are "the most we’ve ever had," Dorcy said. AAFES is negotiating to get one or two more taxi companies on post, which would add another 70 taxis at Yongsan, he said.
FTNH’s dispatch service will be available from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and airport shuttle service will be available 24 hours a day by pre-arrangement.
The dispatch service will include a 1,000 won charge (about 85 cents) per call. The airport shuttle fare will cost 4,500 won (about $3.80) for the first three kilometers, 200 won (about 17 cents) per each additional 164 meters, and an additional 200 won for each 39 seconds the taxi is traveling at 15 kilometers per hour or less.
Won and dollars will be accepted for payment, but won will be returned as change.
Details of the five-year contract, including the cost, were unavailable Wednesday evening but will be made public soon, Dorcy said.
