Travel in South Korea is efficient, clean and safe. Technology at stations, at bus stops and on your phone can tell you when the next bus, train or metro is. But how do you pay! Your saviour will be a T-Money card.
A T-Money card is a prepaid card that is easily purchased in convenience stores for example. For those in the UK and familiar with London’s transport system, think an Oyster card but with added extras. In Korea they are used for public transportation, taxi, convenience store, and a number of approved vendors.
As I have mentioned, most people buy these from the convenience store or when they land at Incheon International Airport (ICN). There are also vending machines near the subway stations in ICN. Prices vary, from 3000-5000krw [normal ones] to 25,000krw [for the BTS character cards], and then you need to your funds onto them. Now, a slight catch here, and if, like most tourists to the country, you don’t speak Korean, some of the convenience stores might give you a CASHBEE card and not a T-Money even though you asked for one! Check the physical card before purchasing, and make sure it's a T-Money card. If it's not, walk away.
Everybody will need their own cards but children under the age of 6, they can ride public transport for free. Children ages 6 and up, will require a [child] fare converted T-money card. Minors ages 13-18 will require a [youth] fare converted T-money card. All you have to do is buy a regular T-money Card and tell them it is for a child or youth. (아동 "ah dong" child / 청소년 "chung soh nyun" youth). They will convert it to pay a child/youth fare at public transportation gates.
So now you have your card, you need to put some money on it. The convenience store will charge it up for you, however, you can only charge it with CASH. Once done, you're good to go!
When you get to the metro or you get on a bus, there will be a place to tap your card. Simply tap when you get on and tap when you get off the bus / out of the metro station.
You can transfer between buses or trains and have 30mins. from the last [exit] tap to transfer onto your next bus or subway. So, all you would have to do is simply get onto your next subway or bus within that time. You can transfer between buses and subways. It will still charge you the same fare as the first scan. Outside of travelling to a completely different city or regional area, you can travel pretty far with the initial tap on fare.
Some shops and café also accept these cards, but before you place an order, just check. You may have to use cash, but if they accept the cards, you will be asked to tap on a payment machine, much as we do with chip and pin cards.
At some point, you will probably want to check your card balance and top up if needed. However, if you remember, every time you tap on or off the metro or the bus, it will show your balance. The top shows how much you are being charged; the bottom is the balance left. If you have new enough phone, you can also download an app called BucaCheck, and simply just tap to your phone and check your balance that way.
If you have a problem with your card and for some reason it no longer scans, its an issue with the chip. Unfortunately, you can’t get this sorted in a convenience store, but all is not lost. Every T-money card has a serial number on it. Take your card to T-money office just outside Seoul Station and have them transfer your balance to another card for you. You will find the office just 50m from exit 10 in the Seoul City Tower building on the first floor. (https://naver.me/Gqsgydly)
At the end of your stay, if you have any money left on your card, and it is under 20,000krw, you can go to any convenience store and they will give you your cash back, less a fee of 500krw. If your balance is over 20,000krw you're going to have to go to the T-Money Office linked above near Seoul Station.
