In Pyongyang, odd-even ban imposed on cabbies: report North Korean taxi drivers in the reclusive country’s capital of Pyongyang have been ordered to drive their vehicles only every other day since April this year, but the reason of the restriction remains unknown, China’s state-run media reported Thursday.
In a dispatch from Pyongyang, China’s Xinhua news agency said, under the ban, a taxi with an odd numbered license plate is allowed to drive on the city’s roads only on odd numbered days. A taxi with an even numbered plate is allowed for the roads on even numbered days.
“The reason for introducing the license plate restriction for taxis remains unknown. It appears not likely that the niche has become saturated as people often vie to hail a taxi,” the report said.
A Pyongyang taxi driver named Han Chol-mun was quoted in the report as saying, “It is the government that made the regulation. We just need to follow the rule.”
Last month, Beijing imposed a similar odd-even plate ban on cars in the Chinese capital in an effort to reduce the city’s notorious smog during the APEC Summit.
At the end of 2013, there were more than 1,500 taxis in Pyongyang, the report said, citing “official figures.”
Since the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011, following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, the number of taxis have been on the rise, according to the report.
“In fact, a large number of new vehicles have been put on the roads in Pyongyang to boost taxi services since Kim Jong-un took the helm in 2011,” the report said.
Most taxis in Pyongyang were produced by a Chinese automaker BYD Co., according the report.
source:
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/
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