It has been confirmed that some Seoul city bus routes passing through the Namsan No. 1 Tunnel also had cases of overcharging caused by radio interference. Following the metropolitan buses running between Gyeonggi and Seoul, the same problem has surfaced on Seoul city buses.
According to Tmoney Co., a transit card payment service provider, as of the 1st, a total of four refunds for overcharges caused by radio interference near the Namsan No. 1 Tunnel on Seoul city bus routes have been tallied. Among Seoul city bus routes, six routes where overcharging could occur are Nos. 140, 472, 741, 470, 9401 and N37.
The overcharging is believed to have occurred as radio interference near the Namsan No. 1 Tunnel affected the transit card readers. The interference is known to be related to security measures after the presidential office moved to Yongsan in the past. A Tmoney Co. official said, "Since the function improvement, the same problem has not occurred since October last year."
Earlier, an overcharging problem also occurred on some metropolitan bus routes between Gyeonggi Province and Seoul that pass through the Namsan No. 1 Tunnel.
In October last year, Gyeonggi Province announced on its bus information website that the possibility of overcharging had been identified on about 20 routes that stop at the Soonchunhyang University Hospital stop. The target routes are metropolitan buses running between Yongin, Seongnam, Suwon and Gwangju in Gyeonggi and Seoul. Gyeonggi Province did not disclose the status of specific overcharge cases.
There may be more actual cases than counted. The Seoul city government has begun informing riders on the affected bus routes about the possibility of overcharges and how to get refunds. For city buses, eligible refunds apply to passengers on the six routes that passed through the Namsan No. 1 Tunnel on or before Sept. 30 last year if an additional fare was confirmed. For Gyeonggi metropolitan buses, no specific time period was designated.
However, whether a passenger is eligible for a refund can only be confirmed by contacting customer service directly. Passengers who did not notice the overcharge may not have applied for a refund.