Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aweitzm1]

is there anywhere else beside the subway station that I can refill my t-money card? I

[blackjack]

GS 25 and most convenience stores

[laguna]

[Troglodyte]

Can you use t-money for anything other than the bus and subway? e.g. Could you use it to buy a coffee or something?

[Lee Myung Bak]

Oh yeah...you've never seen the T-money scanners in Taxi's? Id say about a solid half of taxis accept it in Seoul as taxi fare. Also most corner stores/street booths that recharge T-money will also accept it as payment.

[madoka]

[coffee]

Question regarding Tmoney card.

Ok you use one to board a bus, but do you also have to scan it on the way out?? I've seen some folks just get off without scanning, while others scan before they got off, or sometimes 2 or 3 stops before they got off the bus? Can anyone explain.

Oh and by the way, what happens if you DONT scan on your way off the bus???

[GTG09]

The meters on the bus calculate the distance you go. Depending on the bus route if you don't scan when you get off, you can get charged double the next time you take a ride because it doesn't know where you got off so it charges you for the entire distance of the bus route. Thats pretty much my understanding off it, I have paid double a couple times for forgetting to scan previously.

[Troglodyte]

Plus, if you use it on the subway, when you get off, you can use it to get on a local bus for free.

[optik404]

[fugitive chicken]

I was told by a Korean that you have to scan it twice or it will charge you double the next time you get on a bus. So where one trip would cost 900 won, and you scan it only once, you're charged 1800 won.

[nathanrutledge]

Buses charge a single fare only, you could ride it 1 stop or you could ride it all day long, and it's the same price. Otherwise, who would use the T-Money card if it was charging you more the longer you went vs. dropping cash in the box?

coffee - If you don't scan it when you get off the bus, then you don't get the transfer credit. It's a good habit to be in, scanning the card whenever you get off the bus. If you hop on another bus, then you pay nothing (unless its a more expensive bus, i.e. going blue to red) to ride, as long as it's within the allotted number of transfers. If you hop off the bus and get on the subway, or vice versa, you get the transfer credit.

Some Koreans scan it early so they don't have to wait to get off the bus, they know their next bus will be there so they aren't worried about the time limit, or they aren't transferring and its just a habit.

Having not scanned my card numerous times when getting off a single bus, a single transfer, and a few double transfers, I have never been charged extra the next time I used it. What kind of voodoo cards are you guys using???

EDIT - The T-Money website in English is here - http://eng.t-money.co.kr/
As per most Korean websites in English, it sucks, but it does mention a distance based fare in passing.

From lifeinkorea, it has a whole page on the system, but it is from about six years ago. http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/trans/seoul-trans.cfm

Apparently, from what it says, it is distance based if you transfer. I've never had to pay a distance based fee then because I've never transferred and gone more than 5 km on the second bus, and I use the red buses which don't have an extra fee on them anyway.

So, I retract my voodoo cards comment and replace it with why do you take such roundabout ways to get to where you're going???

[ldh2222]

Do the T-Money cards purchased in the Seoul metropolitan area work in other cities' (Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan) bus/subway system?

[Jake_Kim]

[blackjack]