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Gangnam to Bundang
I live in Bundang yet I work in Gangnam equally to a total of 2 hours of commuting every day within Seoul. Being a 20 something girl from a small country town in Canada with no public transit, I at first was extremely intimidated. I had never taken a bus by myself before and most of all I had never been on a subway or train before. And worst of all, I couldn’t speak Korean. As you can imagine, this was a bit scary. However I quickly learn within a week of commuting that Koreas public transit system is extremely easy to understand even if you don’t speak Korean.
T-Money Cards
If you are going to be taking any form of public transportation in Korea, your going to need a T-money card. You can purchase a t-money card at ANY convenience store in Korea. Just go to the count and say “T-money cardu”. I not very good at all at Korean but if I was to guess you would say “T-money cardu hanagae chusaeyo” (please correct me if I am wrong lol). They will know what you are asking for. These cards generally cost $5+ you can even get key chain ones in the shape of cartoon characters that you can attach to your phone or wallet.
I used to have one but it was glitchy so I bought a card instead.
Once you have a t-money card you are set for life in Korea! You can use your t-money card for any form of transportation, you can even use it to pay for cabs 🙂 T-money cards are also very easy to reload. There are reload machines at every subway station where you pay in cash only. Then you can also reload you card at any convenience store with cash, credit or debit. You can also use your t-money card to pay for things at certain stores such as Paris Baguette, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robins and a few more.
Subway App
The Seoul subway system is pretty intense when you first look at it and can seem very intimidating. However there is an app you can download to your smart phone that makes getting around so much easier! As long as you know the subway station you will depart from and arrive at, you can easily get anywhere without getting lost! I use this app all the time when ever I am going somewhere I don’t normal go. This helps me track everything from how long it will take me, how many stops there are and what stop is before mine and where to transfer! It is a number 1 survival tool for Korea.
Link: Get Seoul Subway App
There also is a Seoul bus app, but I don’t use this much as of yet because you have to be able to read Hangul if you want to use this app with ease. Or you need to know the bus stop number you are going to. So if you can read Hangul it is a bit easier to use Google Maps app. But even with Google majority of the time everything is in Hangul.
Link: Get Seoul Bus App
Tips for Subways
The subways are pretty cleans and fairly updated in Korea. They also repeat everything in English after first announcing stops and arriving trains in Korea. So There is nothing to stress about. Just pay attention and be alert of which stop your at. In Korea, it is customary to be silent on the subway, when someone is loud, they can expect to receive dirty looks. With it being the day and age of the smart phones, majority of people on transit will have head phones in and have all their attention on their phones either checking social media, playing games, streaming tv or reading manga/mahnwa. If someone is not “plugged in” it is because they are sleeping while they can before arriving at their stop. Once you ride the subway enough, you too will become one of these people, because standing/sitting for more than 10 minutes quickly becomes very very boring if you are not staying entertained by something. I have become a “plugged in” person on the subway.
Tips for Buses
There are a few different types of buses which can be distinguished by color. Red buses go out of city, Green buses go all around the city (generally) and Yellow buses stay local on a designated route that usually goes in a small loop of a certain area. Then there are airport Limousine buses, which as you may guess, take you to the airport (Incheon or Gimpo). These buses have only 1 stop, being the 1 stop they get you and the airport it goes to. Airport limousines have a higher price then regular buses (use t-money). Red buses usually go onto highways and and take you from one city to another. These buses are just a bit smaller than an airport limousine, but not by much. The ride is fairly relaxing with comfortable seat and curtains. Extremely similar to airport buses. Green buses take you to far areas of your city, these buses are larger versions of Yellow buses and the ride can be a bit unpleasant depending on the driver. Yellow buses are the smallest buses and majority of the time are quite unpleasant to ride on during peak hours. During rush hours, the buses drive quite fast and don’t mind for slow stops. You can easily become motion sick while sitting and get tossed around when standing. If standing, it is best to hold on very tightly. There has not been 1 yellow bus that was “pleasant” to ride. But during mid day on week days, then buses drive slower and they are not too bad.
All types of buses take T-money or change. If you pay in change it is more expensive, so get your t-money card! 🙂
Tips for Taxis
If you don’t speak Korea, taxis are the most difficult. There are certain colored taxis with numbers on the that indicate if they can go out of city or have to stay local. I am not 100% on these colors yet but as a guess, I think green is local and blue is out of city. I could be wrong so please correct me if I am. Taxis take cash, credit, debit or t-money. However if you don’t speak any Korean and don’t know the area too well, then I don’t recommend taxis. Some taxi drivers will take advantage of the fact that you are a foreigner and will take you on a “detour” so you end us paying way more money. This has happened to us before. Which is why it is important you know the general area to you can notice when a taxi is taking you on an extended journey. This hasn’t happened to me on my own, but it has happened to Kyle a number of times. He learned the hard way the understand the area to he can tell the taxi to stop and let him out. I only recommend using a cab if it is an emergency and no bus is coming and you are lost.
My best advice, make sure you have data on your phone so you can get your address or destination in Korean writing and show it to the taxi driver. If you speak Korean, then feel free to take taxis.
Important bonus tips! In Korea, the back doors of taxis are a bit different. Only the door on the right side opens. Meaning your can only get in and out of the taxi on the right side. This is a safety thing so people don’t get out onto the street, potentially getting hit by a car. Taxis run red lights. So make sure you always look both-ways. Buses also run red lights… 😛