[Blog] Travel in Korea – T-money (티머니 카드)[Blog] Travel in Korea – T-money (티머니 카드)
T-money is quite possibly the greatest invention to ever grace the streets of Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi-do, and it’ll be the best investment of your life to get one of these to carry around with you when you come here. T-money comes in all shapes and sizes, is rechargeable, and is useful in every means of public transportation that Seoul and Gyeonggi-do has to offer (hence the name “T-money”).
So let’s say that you’ve arrived in Korea and don’t have T-money yet. How do you get it?
Luckily, you can purchase and re-fill T-money at all subway ticket booths. These automated machines are pretty nifty and we will be sure to cover this subject in a later post! You can also purchase and recharge T-money at almost every convenience store in Seoul. Most stores have a T-money logo in the window so you know for sure that you can purchase and re-charge there. There are even a few convenience stores at Incheon Airport on the arrival floor where you can do this so when you get to Seoul or Gyeonggi-do, you’ll already have it. This saves you from being super awkward and basically wearing a sign on your forehead that says “I’m a tourist!” when you try to take a bus ride by paying with cash. Actually, it’s not THAT awkward to pay with cash, but why pay with cash when you can get a discount when you pay with T-money?!
Discount? Yeah, that’s right! Everyone loves discounts, and T-money gives you 100W basic cash fare, which is 1,000W for every 10km. Since transportation cost in Seoul is figured by distance, the T-money card will gives you a discount on up to 4 transfers in the subways and buses when you need to. We’ll go into more detail on this in a future post!
You can get a regular T-money card for 2,500W, and other speciality cards, key chains, phone charms, etc… range from 4,000W to 25,000W. Different cards are sold at different locations, so check out this link to see all the different kinds of T-money and it’s sold: http://www.t-money.co.kr/jsp/tpub/tint/buy_guide.jsp
The initial cost of T-money may seem like a lot when you are first purchasing it. If you buy a regular T-money card, you will end up paying 11,500W when you get it, but subtract 2,500W from that for the actual cost of the card and the rest is the balance you can use to get around the city.
T-money is also refundable, but you have to pay a 500W fee. If your balance is under 20,000W, just take your T-money to a convenience store to receive the refund on the balance only; however, some convenience stores are unable to refund the money. If your balance is more than 20,000W, you have to take it to the T-money headquarters right outside of Seoul Station, Exit #8 to get your money back. Or, you can just keep the T-money and the money on it for the next time you come to Korea because it NEVER expires!!
If you won’t be in Seoul for an extended amount of time and don’t want to purchase a T-money card, another option is the Seoul City Pass. With this pass, you can ride subways and local buses in Seoul as well as subways in the surrounding Gyeonggi-do area. You can ride them all for up to 20 times per day without a limit on distance. With the Seoul City Pass, you can also ride 3 different routes (palace, downtown, and night view) of the Seoul City Tour Bus without limit. Currently the prices for the Seoul City Pass are:
1-day = 15,000W
2-days= 25,000W
3-days= 50,000W
You can purchase this pass at the following establishments:
- GS25, Family Mart, and MINISTOP convenience stores (located on the arrival floor of Incheon International Airport)
- Dongdaemun Tourist Information Office
- Gwanghwamun Tourist Information Office
- Itaewon Tourist Information Office
- Gimpo Airport Tourist Information Office
- Samilgyo Tourist Information Office
- Myeong-dong Tourist Information Office
- Namdaemun Tourist Information Office
- Jamsil Tourist Information Office.
The Seoul City Pass Plus Card is a pretty flippin’ sweet deal if you’re a tourist and plan to be in Seoul for a while. It’s essentially a T-money card with the added benefits of a Seoul City Pass for only 3,000W. You can ride any bus or subway in Seoul until you run out of money and have to re-fill. You can also take any of the Seoul City Tour Bus routes at a 5% discount!! With your Seoul City Pass Plus Card, you also receive a booklet and discount coupons to use everywhere in Seoul. This pass also gets you discounts at 60+ participating stores that include restaurants, attractions, eyeglass shops, beauty stores, and many more! You get all of this great stuff for only 500W more than a regular T-money card. Um, yeah…totally awesome!
You can purchase and recharge the Seoul City Pass Plus Card at any of the convenience stores in Korea as well as 종묘 (Jongmyo) and any of the 4 major palaces (Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, and Deoksugung Palace). This card is also refundable, but there is a 500W convenience fee to get your money back.
So that’s our introduction to T-money. In the future, we will be blogging about how to use your T-money on a bus, how to use it on the subway, and how to re-fill it, so make sure you keep coming back!
Feel free to leave us any comments, questions, and suggestions for future blog posts in the comments section below!
As always, thanks for studying with us and giving us your support!
Written by Stephanie Morris
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Discussion( leave a comment )
The T-money I used was in the form of Hello Kitty’s head. I think it was 5,000W? I had to go to many convenience stores just to look for that particular design. Haha good memories~ ;)
Hey :) I didnt know about the different shapes of this card. Finally where did you find it ? Which store?? I want the same ^__^
Oh I still have one card from my trip … really comfortable to use one of these…
I was surprised how easy and fast it is .
Hope to use my card again =)) there is still some money inside for my next trip ^_^
The Seoul transport system is SO MUCH BETTER than London’s. I lived really close to KU so I could just take one of the circle buses for super cheap, but even if I had taken the subway every day, an entire semester of travel between home and Uni would have cost me the same amount as just one month of the same in London. Ridiculous!
The T-Money card is better than London’s Oyster card, too. It’s much easier to top it up, and there’s so many cute options, plus the phone charm things, and the phone chips, and everything else you can get to use as your T-Money.
Seoul has a transportation system that I really, really hope that London takes a look at and tries to become, because it was the cheapest, quickest and most convinient year of public transport I’ve ever experienced.
Thank you for providing us such a great information.^^ I think the T-money card is just like the ” ez-link card” that we are using in Singapore but the design of T-money card is better and cuter.^^
Does Seoul City Pass Plus Card have the phone charm version as well? Also, does it also not expire like T-Money?
Looking forward to my trip to Seoul.
Many foreigners are having the luxury of using smartphones now in Korea. T-money is also available on your Android phone in conjunction with an Android application. Since the USIM is a IC chip, you have the option of using your phone in lieu of a T-money card. Unfortunately, the iPhone does not have a near communications field (NFC) option, therefore, it does not work for T-money. You swipe your phone over the card reader at the subway, bus, taxi, or convenience store just as you would the T-money card. If you purchase an Android smartphone, and your phone has NFC capability, you will usually get a NFC USIM automatically. With the T-money application, it will give you a detailed log of where you got on and off the bus/subway and whatever other charges you make using your T-money. It also breaks down the usage by transportation usage, internet usage, convenience store usage and if you use it to buy a gift. Recharging is also the same as the card. You also have several options to recharge your T-money card. You can use your phone bill, credit card, recharging stations at subway and the convenience store.
This blog post really helps a lot as I’ll be making my trip to Seoul in about less than 3 weeks time. I’d definitely get a T-Money card because it doesn’t expire and it is a useful souvenir because it can be used again in my subsequent trips to Seoul. Thank you for the good information! TTMIK jjang! :DD
안녕하세요! 블로그 너무 재미있었어요! :)
Ok, so I really enjoyed this blog and I thought it was very interesting. I love all of your blogs and I think they are all very interesting. I think that you guys should make some food blogs on some places to eat when you travel to Korea because I was thinking about traveling to Korean and am still wondering where to go to enjoy some food. I would also be intrested in reading about beauty stores because I want to become a makeup artist when I am older.
Thanks for breaking this down. I’ve always wonder about this. The transportation money system is very awesome. Less hassle for everyone and it should be taken as an example in many countries. Looking forward to one day using all this. :D
Loved this post. It’s really informative! Thanks for the great post. Looking forward to more posts on this subject. ^^
Have a wonderful weekend! ^^
감사합니다 for the article!
Very useful! thanks! :D
Why does the 3-day Seoul City Pass costs 50,000W?
3-days= 50,000W
I will be getting the 2-day pass.
Very nice info here.
TTMIK 블로그를 너무너무너무 좋아해요~
블로그 더 만들어 주세용~><
Where do I get the T-Money phone charms? I look around at GS25, Family Mart and the phone accessoiry shops, but nowhere do I even find a single T-Money phone charm on sale!! What do I do wrong?
Have you tried bookstores? I got a really cute T-Money phone charm in a small plush Totoro from the stationery section of a large chain bookstore (maybe Kyobo?)
I understand how many non-Koreans might find this T-money card staggering. In the US, talks over NFC has recently emerged, but in Korea it’s such an ancient technology, not many Koreans can live without. Thanks for this nice post.
For more tips on translation:
http://korean-translation.blogspot.com/2011/08/improving-as-writer-2.html
does city tour pass usage include city tour bus…or must buy city tour bus ticket
If only I had stumbled upon this topic while I was in Korea. I ended up using the disposable cards when I was in Seoul. I still have it too :)
whoaaa…. finally i found the answer why my brother got me mickey phone strap when he went to Korea….
Very useful information ^^
Hey, this is good information. I thought I’d add my two cents.
The easiest thing to do in Seoul is to add money at the ticket machines in metro stations. In Daegu, I could *use* my T-money card on buses (both shi-nae and jwa-seok) and on the metro. However, I tried to add money to my T-money card at the ‘Add Fare’ machines at TWO stations in Daegu, and it told me that it failed.
I stopped by two GS25′s, and was told I could not add money on the card there. Where did I eventually get lucky? At a FamilyMart. I don’t know if all FamilyMart locations allow you to add to your T-money card, but I’d be curious to know if you can.
Also, I didn’t know how to say “add money to T-money card” in Korean. (Now I know that it’s “교통카드 충전하기”. But, if you don’t want to try saying this, here’s another thing to avoid confusion. I wanted to add money, but I wanted to buy a pack of gum too. The guy behind the counter thought I wanted to purchase the gum using the money on my T-money card (which is actually a valid way to pay). To avoid confusion, don’t have anything you want to purchase from the store in hand (go do your shopping around after loading the money!). If I were you, I’d just grab the wad of cash (and you have to pay in cash…. no cards) and point it towards the card.
Also, if you present a 10,000 bill or something, you’ll probably be asked “how much of the 10,000 do you want put on the card?”. You could probably save the hassle by giving over an amount of money that suggests NO CHANGE. (Like 6,000 instead of 5,000.)
Hi! does anyone know where can we get a mickey mouse/hello kitty t-money at Incheon airport.
thanks.
Can we sharing a card? Can i tag it twice at a subway station for 2 person for example?
No, you can not twice at a subway station. The other person needs to buy a ticket.
When you take a bus and you want to pay 2 people’s ticket, you can say “두 사람이요 I will pay two people’s ticket” before you pay, and then the driver set the electric pad. After that, you can pay two people’s ticket.
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