Aesthetics of Everywhere

T-money transportation cards combine a number of important uses for getting around in Seoul, Korea. Not only can these cards be used to pay for the bus, the subway, and taxis, they also work for paying for calls on pay phones and for subway locker rentals. You can buy the T-money cards for 2500 KRW (about $2.50 USD) at any convenience store such as FamilyMart and add value to your card at a machine in any subway station. It’s worth the minimal cost, which you earn back quickly with the 10% fare discount on every subway ride with your T-money card.

Speaking of the Seoul subway… check out how extensive this transit system is. It looks like pure chaos at first, but it’s the complete opposite: easy to understand where you are and where you need to go, with platforms well-marked and maps everywhere. Some of the subway stations even have digital touch screen tourist guides so you can see a map of the local area and browse interesting places nearby. We spotted a cell phone charging machine in the Dongnimmun subway station – important for Koreans who have cell service and wifi almost everywhere throughout the subway – and these free recharging stations are at every subway stop on lines 1 through 4.

One of our Korean friends even has a Visa card that is T-money enabled. This means he can automatically add value to the card from his bank account, and it’s one less thing to carry in his wallet.