Transportation in South Korea is world-class. When using subway trains or buses, you can either buy a single ticket or use a T-money card. Buying a T-money card (or a Cashbee card if you’re in more rural and Southern places) will save you a lot of money, because single trip fairs are cheaper with this card and it also allows you to make a free transfer.
Some cities like Busan, even offer day passes, but using the T-money card still often works out cheaper
Table of Contents
1. Where To Buy A T-money Card
You can buy a T-money Card at convenience stores like GS25, CU, and 7-Eleven Ministop for 2,500 KRW. You can buy a card with a basic design or one with cute designs with Kakao Friends characters, BT21 characters and many more. There was even a brief period when you could buy T-money cards which included pictures of the BTS members. These special T-money cards will most likely cost more than 2,500 KRW.
2. How To Top Up (Reload) Your T-money Card
Once you pick a card, you need to put money on it to use it. There are three ways to do this:
- You can do this straight away at the convenience store you visited
- You can use a ticket machine that you can find in all subway stations and even train stations.
- You can visit a newsstand near a bus stop (and usually close to subway exits and entrances) with a display of the T-money sign.
3. How to Use your T-money card
1. Bus
Tap your card on the sensor at the front when boarding buses. When you do this, you’ll be able to see the amount charged as well as your remaining balance.
You should also tap your card on the sensor closer to the rear of the bus when you exit buses to benefit from a free transfer. Keep in mind that free transfers are limited to 4 times a day within a 30-minute time limit (or an hour from 9 pm to 7 am the next day in places like Seoul, but daily in more rural provinces like Jeollanam-do).
The transfer doesn’t apply if you’re transferring to another bus with the same number. For example, if you catch the 143 bus, tap your card when exiting, and then catch another 143 bus 10 minutes later then you will not get a free transfer.
2. Subway
The entrance and exit sensors at subway stations are located on top of the subway turnstiles not in the trains themselves, so this is where you need to tap. You will not be able to exit or enter until you tap your card.
Free transfers don’t apply if you re-enter the same subway station after exiting it. For instance, if you exit Seoul Station but want to renter it less than 30 minutes later then you will not get a free transfer. But you will if you enter a different subway station or catch a bus within 30 minutes.
3. Taxi
If you catch a taxi that has a T-money or Cashbee logo then you can also use your T-money card here. The taxi driver will have a special sensor for you to tap.
Note that most taxis probably won’t have a T-money function.
4. Debit Card
If you’re a foreigner with an ARC (Foreign Resident Card) you can get a debit card with a T-money function. It’ll work exactly like a T-money card but instead of seeing your remaining balance on the sensor, you’ll be able to see how much you’ve used on your card so far.
The benefits of this are that you won’t need to pay for a transportation card, however, a con could be that it may be easier to lose your debit card if you use it as a daily transportation card.
5. Conclusion
T-money (or Cashbee) cards are easy to use. Which destination will you travel to with your handy transportation card?
