- How to ride the subway in Seoul, South Korea.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I do travel guides that are fun, informative, entertaining.
And in this video, I'm gonna be telling you everything
you need to know to get around Seoul riding the subway.
This is part of my series
on South Korea, Seoul in particular.
If you wanna see more videos on Seoul
about how to travel around here.
You'll find links in the description below,
or at the end of this video.
We'll talk about a general overview of the subway,
how to get tickets, how to get on the subway,
how to find your train, and how to ride it, and finally,
how to get off and exit the station.
The first thing to know is just some
general information about Seoul subway.
There are 22 lines in total,
if you count all of the rural lines,
including the airport line.
The trains run roughly from 5:30 in the morning,
until about midnight.
Slightly different hours on the weekend.
The major lines 1 through 9 are numbered,
and then colored.
Locals refer to them by the number,
most foreigners refer to them by the color.
The Seoul subway system is very well connected
from a 4G or cellphone perspective.
If you have a cellphone you'll pretty much be able
to use it in any station, on any line, almost anywhere.
Most of the stations have bathrooms.
The bathrooms are free of charge.
They do have some maps that'll show you
which stations have them,
but it's pretty much something like 90% of them do.
The Seoul subway system is clean and efficient.
Trains run roughly every three to seven minutes.
But how much does it cost?
Well, the base fare is 1,250 won.
That's gonna get you a distance of 10 kilometers,
for every 5 kilometers afterward,
you're gonna get charged another 100 won.
Up to the first 50 kilometers after that
you get a little more for the same amount of money.
8 kilometers is the distance unit at that point
for another 100 won.
But, overall, pretty cheap.
Your ride on the subway is gonna cost you somewhere
of the equivalent of 1 to 2 US dollars.
So to get your T-money card to ride the subway.
Find the T-money card vending machine.
They look like this, you can push English
to turn the whole thing into English,
and the first thing you'll wanna do is,
you'll wanna click purchase to purchase your T-money card.
You'll decide how old you are.
In this case, I'm an adult, today.
And you can pick which card you want.
Come here, look up a bit close to this.
You can pick if you want like the Line Friends card,
for 7,000 won.
The special Visit Korea card, or the little card here.
Because I'm here with Osiko, and we're a couple,
we're gonna buy the Couple T-money cards.
It's 7,000 won, make sure you have cash.
It only takes cash, no credit cards accepted.
(machine beeps)
It will make change, it will take up to 10,000 won.
And after you put in the money, out of here,
is the T-money product.
You get this little box, this is the Line Friends box.
And in it, are one,
two T-money cards,
that match. Isn't that cute?
So, these have no value on them.
So, now that I've bought them, need to load them up.
So, you'll need to do the same thing.
And it also takes cash only to top it up.
So, to top up your card, you push top up.
You place the card here in the slot,
you select how much you wanna top it up,
and then you put your money in,
and it's gonna add that much on the card.
The receipts are not in English.
But now,
this card has 10,000 won on it.
Once you got your T-money card, and it's charged up,
to get in, just find one that has a green arrow.
Put you card right here up on the top.
It'll tell you how much it deducted for the ride.
This case, 1,250, which is the equivalent of 1 US dollar.
Then you're in, just head down to the tracks.
So, what do you do if you're traveling with luggage?
Well, this handy sign let's you know.
Your card first, your body second,
and then your luggage trailing behind.
Then at the track level they'll have signs
that tell you which stops are next,
depending upon which direction you go.
Choose left or right.
It's like a choose your own adventure book.
All of the stations have numbers
so you can also look and see whether you're
going in increasing numbers or decreasing numbers
to figure out which side of the tracks you're going on.
When you're waiting for the train on the tracks,
you'll find all the subway stations have these glass doors
so you don't fall on the tracks, that's pretty nice.
And to wait for the train you just approach
one of the doors, there's little diamonds,
you stand on the diamonds by the side.
The doors open up, you let the people out,
and then once everybody's got off the train,
you get on the train.
Once you're on the train,
they all pretty much look like this,
they've got seats that face the inside,
they've got handle bars that you can hold onto.
If you're standing and holding the handle bars,
please face the people who are sitting.
Do not put your behind in their face.
If you are sitting, please pay attention
to the special needs seats.
They're special needs seats for elderly, disabled,
and pregnant woman.
The announcements on the subway are in Korean and English.
All the subway cars will have maps.
Some of the newer subway cars have digital maps,
like this one you see here,
that tells you what station you're coming to,
what station you left, and what's the next station.
You'll also typically hear announcements
for which side the doors open on, left or right.
When it's time to exit, get your card out again,
tap it on the exit gate.
It'll tell you if you got charged anymore,
and show your balance, and then you're out.
So, what happens if you try to exit
and you don't have enough money on your card?
Well, a little alarm will sound,
and the gates won't come out.
But there're these Fare Adjustment and Card Reload
devices by the exits.
You can place your card on them,
and you can add more money to your card.
Once your card is full of money,
then you can just go ahead and exit.
Tap, and walk on out.
What if you don't use all your money on the card?
No big deal, they've got these Deposit Refund devices.
You can put your card in the machine,
and then you'll get some money out,
minus a small processing charge.
Well, there you have it, riding the Seoul subway.
It's pretty easy now that you know the basics.
If you enjoyed this video,
well, definitely consider subscribing,
or watching some of my other videos on Seoul
that help you get around.
You'll find the link up here, or up here,
or in the description below.
Well, I won't say goodbye
because I'll see you in the next video.