Starting in 2030, foreign tourists will be able to use public transportation such as the Seoul subway and buses with overseas credit cards. The city will improve how people use public transit, as in major cities abroad.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 16th that it will gradually introduce an "open-loop-based transit payment system" using the EMV standard to ease inconveniences faced by foreign tourists using public transportation.
The EMV standard is an international technical standard for IC card payment systems jointly established by three companies: Visa, Mastercard, and Europay. EMV Contactless, a near-field communication (NFC) contactless payment standard, follows the same standard.
Visa's "Tap to Pay" and Mastercard's Tap & Go run on EMV Contactless technology. Payment is completed by simply tapping a credit card on the payment terminal.
The same goes for public transportation. If you tap a credit card on the gate terminal, the fare is paid and you can board. There is no need to buy a separate transit card. In the United States (New York), the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, this system is already available for public transportation. Japan has also introduced this function in some cities.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Korea this year is expected to exceed 20 million. However, you cannot board Seoul's public transportation this way. You must buy and top up a transit card with cash in won. You can buy and top up a transit card with a domestic credit card, but not with an overseas credit card.
First, by the end of this year, the city will install new transit card vending machines (kiosks) in the subway so that transit cards can be purchased and topped up with overseas credit cards. It is currently improving the system with Seoul Metro. It also plans to allow foreign iPhone users to top up with overseas cards in Tmoney Apple Pay within the year.
In the mid to long term, the city will convert the public transit fare payment system to the EMV standard from this year through 2030. In 2027, it will replace the PayOn domestic standard terminals installed at the gates of Subway Lines 1–8 with EMV terminals. From 2028 to 2030, it will expand to village buses, private-investment railways, and integrated transfer agencies in the capital region.
It is expected to cost more than 50 billion won to replace the domestic standard terminals installed in the capital region with EMV-certified terminals. A new settlement system must also be built so that transfer discounts apply when using public transportation with a credit card.
The EMV-standard payment system also uses a global payment network. The expense burden could be higher than when using a domestic payment network. A Seoul city official said, "We will discuss ways to minimize the burden on transport operators by consulting with various overseas credit card acquirers and brand companies such as Visa and Mastercard."
Yeo Jang-gwon, head of the Seoul City Transportation Bureau, said, "As Seoul is now a tourist city visited by people from around the world, its transit payment environment must also be improved to international standards," adding, "With a phased open-loop transition, we will enhance transportation convenience for foreigners and strengthen the status of Smart Seoul."