Korean’s advanced public transformation system

The most famous public transport use by Korean is buses and subways. Based on my experience staying there for a while doing my internship, I am also having fun using the public transport. The public transport is very systematic and efficient compare to Malaysia.

KTX, Korea bullet train. Source: Google Image

So I will share a little bit of my experience using the public transport in Korea. I almost tried all the public transport includes, bus (is the most usual), subways and KTX (bullet train). In order to use it conveniently, you must have the transportation card. The transportation card differs between town, for example, I have been using Daegu transportation card since I am staying in Daegu while when I am travelling to Seoul, I need to purchase another new card which is the Seoul transportation card.

Seoul public bas. Source: Google Image

Of course when I am using the bus for the first time, I am not using the transportation card because I even don't know its existence (Malaysian style). I am paying the bus fare for cash. The concept is, paying using cash is much more expensive compared by paying using the card. For example, using cash is W1,100 while using card it is only charge is only W950 for adults like me. Therefore, every passengers will have their own transportation card either they integrated it with their ID card, or bank card or even their smart phone.

One more thing is the fare is fixed no matter how far you have travel. For example, if I am using the bus from the university gate which is where i am staying to the next bus stop, the fare is W950 (using the card) and if I am stopped at the fifth bus stop also need to charge W950.

Example of Korean Smart Card. Source: Google Image

Another speciality is you can transfer to another public transport (bus and subways) for free if your delay time do not exceed 30 minutes. For example, I am charged for W950 for my first bus trip, then I am stopped at the subway station to take the subway. If the moment I am going out from the bus and swapped the card at the subway gate within 30 minutes, I am taking the subways for free of charge.

To make the wait as smooth as possible, their public transportation system has implemented electronic sign that will indicate the arrival times by the minute of each bus. The best is, it help me know when the bus is coming. Instead of just waiting there for five to 10 minutes, I can schedule my time according to the bus arriving time.

This is where the bus information system is all controlled. All the buses that are running can be seen on the LCD screen at the bust stop. Don't be surprised, the LCD screen is not broken down or chained or even being stolen as long I am staying there. When the bus move, a GPS satellite track the bus’s location and shows the current bus location to the waiting passengers at the bus stop.

The LCD screen show the location of each bus. Source: Google Image

The most don't like about the public transport especially bus either in Daegu or Seoul is the driver driving skills, they are too expert in driving so that they are driving fast like crazy. Never heard about an accident before, but it is scary for the newbie user like me. Everything must be fast even when you push the stop button, you must get ready in front of the back door. If not, the driver will scold you.