Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Aoisagi]

Hi!

I was wondering about the Seoul Subway Metropass... how does it work? From my understanding, you can only use it a certain amount of times for the month. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying a pass? Or maybe I'm wrong and it's unlimited? Anyone ever use this pass and could give me some input would be helpful.

Thanks!!

[lovebug]

i'm not familiar with any type of system that allows you unlimited travel for a length of time. the t money card is basically a debit that allows you to put money on - but you're charged every time you use it. transfers are free between bus and subway changes.

[saram_]

[The Grumpy Senator]

There is a monthly pass called 정기 승차권 good for 40 rides (or 30 days, which ever comes first) that you can purchase for about 37,000 won.

[Aoisagi]

Thanks for the replies. I took this out of Wikipedia:

"Metro Pass (정기권), a monthly pass for the Seoul and Incheon subway systems available at stations."

Maybe they don't offer it anymore?

Edit: The Grumpy Senator -> Thanks for that. I guess this pass would be best for longer distances? It looks like the T-card is a better value?

[saram_]

[samd]

[The Grumpy Senator]

My mistake, 60 rides in 30 days.

And right again on the range. I could not use the card to board the subway outside of Seoul. I was in Suwon and Ansan, it allowed me to exit the train from Seoul; but when I was returning to Seoul, it would not accept the pass.

[Aoisagi]

Oh 60 rides.

The Grumpy Senator -> You couldn't use the pass in Suwon or Ansan? So it's just a pass meant to be within Seoul only? I figured it'd be at least the first 8 lines.

[Caffeinated]

Looked for this at the machines at the station but no luck. Anyone know where to buy?

[crossmr]

[reactionary]

i am guessing that pass does NOT work on buses (specifically, the blue boys?)

[crossmr]

[s4yunkim]

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris from the Seoul Global Center, and I wanted to shed some light on what a 정기 승차권 (jeong-gi seung-cha-gwon), or a Seoul Metro Pass is.

The Seoul Metro Pass was created to be a discounted and more convenient way for commuters to get to and from work every day. The card is tapped against the readers on the turnstiles in subway stations in the same way that T-Money, eB, and other transit cards are, but the catch is that they can only be used on the Seoul Subway, (they cannot be used on busses or taxies).

Here's what it looks like:

http://seoulcityblog.com/pics/seungchagwon.jpg

The card itself costs 2,500 won, and works similar to a T-Money or eB card. They can be purchased from a customer service counter in most of the bigger stations, (think Yongsan, Seoul Station, etc), but they are often available in the smaller ones as well. When you buy it, (or if you have one), you can take it the attendant or activate it at a transit card �recharge� machine.
*Not all of the �recharge� machines are equipped to activate the metro passes, but the one I use looks like this:
http://seoulcityblog.com/pics/scgrecharge.jpg

Rather than �recharging� the card with a certain amount of credit before use, the metro pass works by determining the distance of the farthest trip you will be taking, and paying for a month�s worth of trips in advance.
The �activation� is good for 30 days from the day it was activated. During this month, you are allowed 60 trips on the subway, which evens out to around 2 trips a day for a month.



There are two kinds of pricing methods for the Seoul Metro Pass:
For those who will only be traveling inside Seoul proper, you can �activate� your card for 39,600 won. This will allow you to take up to 60 trips on the subway in Seoul within the 30 day period.
For those who will be traveling to the suburbs, or further down the subway line to another city, pricing is set by the longest trip you will be going on, and ranges from 39,600 won to 89,800 won. The pricing plans for the Metro Pass are as follows:
From your starting point within Seoul, if your destination is

Trip Distance - Price

Up to 20km - 39,600
25 - 44,900
30 - 48,600
35 - 52,400
40 - 56,100
50 - 59,800
60 - 63,600
70 - 67,300
80 - 71,100
90 - 74,800
100 - 78,500
110 - 82,300
Over 120km - 89,800


As an example, someone who goes from Suwon Station to City Hall Station in the morning, and takes the same trip back, will pay 1,600 won for each trip; 3,200 won per day. Let�s say that in a given month they go to work 5 days a week for 4 weeks, which is 20 days.

3,200 won per day X 20 days = 64,000 won per month, with a T-money card. The cost of a month on the metro pass for the distance of Suwon <-> City Hall (42.6km) is 59,800 won, so they would save a little over 4,000 on their work commute, and still have 20 subway trips to use on other trips.

The metro pass is not always the best choice, but can be economical if you have to commute to work, or end up taking the subway a lot. You can use Seoul Metro�s Subway Line map tool:
http://www.seoulmetro.co.kr/station/eng/linemap.action
to find out exactly how far your trip is and how much the cost of a monthly metro pass will cost.

Hope that helps!
Check out a lot of similar articles at http://www.seoulcityblog.com !
For any other questions related to living in Seoul, contact the Seoul Global Center at (02) 2075-4138, or email us at [email protected].


Chris Kim
Senior English Editor, Seoul Global Center[img][/img]

[reactionary]

sorry, i'm an idiot