Tmoney and Transport Payments in Korea

The Tmoney card: one tap for everything

Tmoney (also spelled T-money) is a rechargeable card you tap on subway gates and buses. Getting one is the first errand to run after you land, because almost everything else about moving around here assumes you already have it.

The card works on participating public transport in most regions and at merchants displaying the Tmoney logo, including many taxis and convenience stores. Some routes and shops are excluded. What Things Cost has the per-ride numbers, but the short version is that transport will not be the line that breaks your budget.

Staying put in Seoul and riding several times a day? The Climate Card Short-Term Pass covers unlimited subway and bus rides for 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 days, ₩5,000 to ₩20,000, with the physical card itself another ₩3,000. One catch: it starts the day you load it, not a date you pick later. That ₩3,000 does not come back either - with a working card you get back only what is left on it, so plan on using the pass up rather than counting on money back. From 1 October 2026 the pass runs inside Seoul only and drops the stations it used to reach past the city line, so keep your Tmoney for days you leave town. You load it at a station top-up machine or in the mobile app; the convenience store that sold you the card cannot charge it. The pass promoted next to it is aimed at Seoul residents, so the short-term one is what visitors want.

Use Naver Map or Kakao Map, not Google

Google Maps is what trips up a lot of first-timers. Subway, bus and walking routes come through fine; car navigation is the part that tends not to work properly here, which is usually put down to the limits on exporting detailed map data. Locals use Naver Map and Kakao Map instead. Both run in English and nail subway, bus, walking, and driving routes with live arrivals - see Essential Apps for direct download links and QR codes.

Taxis run through Kakao T, the standard hailing app. Drop a pin and it calls a normal metered taxi to you. Paying in the app needs a registered card, but you can just as easily hand the driver a card or your Tmoney.

Getting between cities

Once customs and quarantine are behind you, two routes reach central Seoul from Incheon. The AREX airport railroad runs an express train nonstop to Seoul Station in around 45 minutes with assigned seats, or an all-stop train that takes about an hour, costs less, and lets you tap through with your transit card. Airport limousine buses reach points across the city in roughly 60 to 80 minutes, depending on traffic. Fares shift and vary by route, so check the current price on the official site rather than banking on a number.

Between cities, high-speed trains are the quick option. Every high-speed service is now sold as a KTX ticket, the trains serving Suseo Station included. SRT is no longer a separate ticket type. Seoul Station and Suseo Station both stay in use, so go by the exact departure station printed on the ticket. Seoul to Busan takes around two and a half hours. For the official foreign-language route and overseas-card payment, see how to book KTX tickets. Express and intercity buses are cheaper and reach smaller towns the trains miss - book on kobus.co.kr or the TmoneyGO app. Past the last bus stop a car is the only way on, and whether your licence is valid here settles that long before you get as far as comparing models.

Paying on the move

For getting around, a Tmoney card and a little cash cover almost everything - markets, street food, and the odd tiny restaurant where cards get flaky. Foreign Visa and Mastercard work for most of the rest, and contactless is everywhere.

The full picture on cards, cash, ATMs, and currency exchange is in Money in Korea. Local wallets like Naver Pay and Kakao Pay need a Korean bank account and phone number, so they are really for residents rather than someone passing through.