A must-know -Transportation system in South Korea

If you are a foreigner who is currently living in South Korea, then I guess you are very familiar with transportation systems in South Korea. Most of the people who travel to South Korea, even locals themselves use public transport daily. But, do you really know well about the public transportation systems in South Korea?

Introduction

So today I would like to introduce to you one of the most advanced transportation systems in the world, which is widely used in South Korea.

T-money

When you first reach South Korea, I am sure you know that you need to buy a transportation card(T-money) in any convenience store to make your travel smooth. If you have a transportation card, you can various kinds of discounts including a cheaper price and discount during transfer.

So, how much a transportation card costs? It is actually not expensive at all as a normal card only costs you around 4000won. And you can use it for a long period as long as you did not lose it. All you need to do is just top up some money in the card at convenience stores like CU or subway station and you can use it easily.

Types of T-money

But, there are actually different kinds of transportation cards too! They consist of normal cards and discount cards. One for teenagers (age 13-18) and the other for children (age 7-12). But, if you want to buy it, you need to show your ID card to prove your identity and age as well. After that, you need to register the card at the website stated behind the card within 10 days. If you use discount cards, it will cost you cheaper than normal cards. And that means there is a discount for teenagers and children when they use public transport. Do not be surprised if you see any older who get on a bus without touching their transportation cards on the machine because senior citizens are free to use any transportation as long as they register at the Seoul Metropolitan Subway stations.

Of course, there are T-money accessories too! It is a card which is much smaller and convenient that costs around 6000-8000won. You can just hang it like a keychain on your phone or key and it will make your life easier a lot.

No T-money?

It is okay too if you don’t want to buy a transportation card(T-money) if you just wish to travel to South Korea within a short period. You can pay cash too! But, you need to make sure you prepare 1300won(more expensive than using a card) every time when you take a public bus and put the money inside the box at the front part of the bus. And, since it does not have a transfer discount, you need to pay the money every time you take a bus. And if you wish to take the subway, it is much more complicated because you need to buy tokens at the machine every time you wish to take the subway. To be honest, I still think that T-money is better although you need to pay for the card money but it will make you much more convenient and at the same time extremely cheaper than cash payment. You can use your transportation card on all buses, subways as well as taxis too!

Bus and subway

So now, you just know everything about the T-money, and I would like to introduce you now to the buses and subways in South Korea. Both of them are actually a widely- used transportation in South Korea and it is commonly well-known among locals. Even if you are a foreigner and you use it every day, you will soon become a professional too in taking both of them.

Bus

So, let’s start with the bus first. Seoul’s public bus system is a well-developed, cheap, and convenient form of transportation. All of the buses are categorized based on their colors. Blue buses connect different districts of the city along the main route and green buses connect subway stations. While main blue bus routes with residential areas and smaller green maeul (local) buses travel shorter routes within a single district or neighborhood. Yellow buses travel in a circulation route in the city center and red buses connect the city with surrounding areas. It might be a little bit confusing if you use it for the first time but trust me, it is actually much easier than you expected.

How to take a bus?

The best way for you to take a bus accurately is you can refer it to a map. No matter a mobile map, or the map located beside the bus stop. Just make sure the bus number is correct and it is in the right direction. Since there are some situations where there are two same stations but different directions. So, you must make sure that the next stop on your map is the same as the next stop on the map at the station. To make it simple, just make sure the station number that stated on the board of the station is the same as the mobile map one. To save your time, you can always check the arrival time of the bus on your mobile map so that you will not waste too much time waiting for a bus or miss a bus. And there are sometimes where it will state the alternative bus you can take on the map. So you can take any bus from the alternate list depends on which bus arrives first. It works the same for the subway too.

Subway

Next will be the subway systems in South Korea. Seoul subway system is one of the most efficient ways to travel around the city. It can be used early in the morning around 6 a.m to late night around 11.00 p.m and therefore widely used among people.

Seoul Metropolitan Area subway system covers an expansive area, including Line 1 to 9 with additional lines, such as Sinbundang Line, Gyeongchun Line, Gyeongui-Jungang Line, Ever Line, Uisinseol Line, and more, branching throughout the metropolitan area. Each of the lines is labeled with different colors. The way to take it is just the same as the bus and you can use cash or T-money to take the ride. And you can use a mobile map too to make sure you did not lose your directions since it might be complicated for the first-time user.

Conclusion

Bus and subway are absolutely the two most common transportation that you will use in South Korea. They might have their own advantages and disadvantages as well too. So, just use any of them depends on your destination and other related factors and I am sure you can move from a place to another in South Korea easily.