SetPaying for Seoul transport
Hi, I’m SeoulAslanSeoul Subway and Bus Fares for Kids and Teens (2026)
Checked Sept 30, 2026
On a T-money card registered with the child's date of birth, kids aged 6 to 12 pay 550 won and teens aged 13 to 18 pay 900 won for a Seoul subway ride or a regular city bus. Adults pay 1,550 won on the subway and 1,500 won on the bus. Those are base fares; longer subway rides add a little. Children under 6 ride free, up to three with each paying adult.
The catch is the registration. A T-money card that doesn't know the rider's age charges the adult fare, even in a child's hand. You fix that at a convenience store counter.
Before any trip abroad I check the same five things: will cash work, how do the ticket machines work, will my card work, can I just tap, and where do I buy a pass. It's a habit from living in Vietnam and Thailand. With children, the card question splits in two: will it work, and will it charge them the right fare?
Jump to: Age groups · Subway fares · Bus fares · Registering the card · Climate Card for kids · A family's fare · Airport train and KTX · Strollers · FAQ
Who counts as a child or a teen on Seoul transport?
Ages are in full years (만 나이). Seoul Metro and T-money give the same child and teen bands:
- Infant (유아): under 6. Free with a paying adult, up to three per adult.
- Child (어린이): 6 to 12.
- Teen (청소년): 13 to 18.
The free rule for under-6s is the same on the subway and on Seoul buses. The adult pays the normal adult fare.
How much do kids pay on the Seoul subway?
| Transit card (T-money) | Single journey ticket | Each extra 5 km after 10 km | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | 1,550 won | 1,650 won | 100 won |
| Teen 13–18 | 900 won | 1,650 won (no teen discount) | 80 won |
| Child 6–12 | 550 won | 550 won | 50 won |
| Under 6 | Free, up to 3 per adult | Free, up to 3 per adult | Free |
Look at the teen row. A teen on a single journey ticket pays the full adult price, 1,650 won, because the single ticket has no teen discount at all. A child is luckier: the single ticket costs the same 550 won as a card.
Every single journey ticket also carries a 500 won deposit. You get it back from the deposit refund machine at your destination station.
So for a teenager staying more than a day, a registered card is the only way to the 900 won fare. The adult side of fares, including transfers, is in the fares and transfers guide.
How much do kids pay on Seoul buses?
Seoul's bus fares are listed by bus type. These are the card fares from the city's bus page:
| Bus type | Adult | Teen 13–18 | Child 6–12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trunk and branch city bus (간선·지선) | 1,500 won | 900 won | 550 won |
| Village bus (마을버스) | 1,200 won | 600 won | 400 won |
| Circular bus (순환버스) | 1,400 won | 800 won | 500 won |
| Wide-area express bus (광역버스) | 3,000 won | 1,700 won | 1,500 won |
| Late-night bus (심야버스) | 2,500 won | 1,600 won | 1,400 won |
The city's note under the table is the part to read twice: the teen discount applies only when you buy a transit card and register it as a teen's card. The bus reader doesn't look at your kid. It reads the card.
My Seoul bus guide is the how-to for riding them.
How do I get the child fare on a T-money card?
Register the child's date of birth on the card. T-money's own page is blunt about it: a card that isn't registered switches to the general fare.
T-money's English page for foreigners gives two routes, depending on which card you bought:
- You bought a regular (full-fare) T-money card. Take it to a convenience store or a T-money service centre and register the birth date there. T-money names GS25, CU, 7-Eleven and emart24, and the customer service centres at stations on Seoul-area Lines 1 to 8 and Incheon Lines 1 and 2. Its visitor guide says to show the T-money card and an ID card. Once the birth date is on the card, the discount stays on.
- You bought a card sold as a child or teen card. Here T-money asks you to enter the card number and the birth date on its website. For child and teen cards from station vending machines, the deadline is 10 days after first use. Miss it and the card charges the adult fare.
Of the two, the counter route is the one I'd pick. I couldn't test the website route myself; see the box at the end.
What to say at the counter. Bring the card and ID:
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Transit card | 교통카드 |
| Child / teen | 어린이 / 청소년 |
| Date of birth | 생년월일 |
| Please register the child discount | 어린이 할인 등록해 주세요 |
| Please register the teen discount | 청소년 할인 등록해 주세요 |
One warning. An adult caught using a child or teen card pays a penalty of 30 times the fare, T-money says on both its Korean and English pages. Label the cards so nobody grabs the wrong one.
Is there a Climate Card tourist pass for kids?
Not for children. The Climate Card tourist pass (기후동행카드 단기권) is sold in five adult versions: 5,000 won for 1 day, 8,000 for 2, 10,000 for 3, 15,000 for 5 and 20,000 for 7. The city's price table has no child version.
For teens there's one new product. Since Sept 1, 2026 the 7-day pass costs 13,000 won instead of 20,000 for users who complete teen age verification on the T-money website. That verification is done once a year. I could not confirm whether a foreign visitor can do it (see the box below).
So when would an adult pass beat a registered T-money card for a child or a teen? Here is my calculation. It divides each pass price by the base fare and ignores distance add-ons and the card's own cost:
| Pass | Beats a child's card from (550 won fares) | Beats a teen's card from (900 won fares) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-day, 5,000 won | 10 fares in the day | 6 fares in the day |
| 3-day, 10,000 won | 19 fares (about 6 a day) | 12 fares (4 a day) |
| 7-day, 20,000 won | 37 fares (about 5 a day) | 23 fares (about 3 a day) |
| Teen 7-day, 13,000 won | Not for children | 15 fares (about 2 a day) |
For a child, a registered T-money card is cheaper unless you ride all day. For a teen on a busy week, the adult 7-day pass can come out ahead. The adults' side of that decision is in T-money vs Climate Card vs WOWPASS.
What does one subway ride cost a family?
A worked example, my calculation from the fares above. Two adults, a 14-year-old and an 8-year-old take one subway ride under 10 km:
- Cards registered: 1,550 + 1,550 + 900 + 550 = 4,550 won
- Four unregistered cards: 1,550 × 4 = 6,200 won
- Four single tickets: 1,650 × 3 + 550 = 5,500 won, plus 2,000 won in deposits you get back at the end
That's 1,650 won a ride lost by skipping the counter visit. Over a week of four or five rides a day, it adds up. Add a 4-year-old and the total doesn't change.
What do kids pay on the airport train and the KTX?
AREX Express (공항철도 직통열차) from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station: 13,000 won for adults and 9,500 won for children aged 6 to 12. The all-stop train takes T-money like the subway. AREX publishes a formula for its child fares rather than a price list, so I've left the all-stop child fare out.
KTX, per Korail's own pages:
- Child, 6 to 12: 50% off the adult fare.
- Under 6 with their own seat: 75% off the adult fare.
- Under 6 without their own seat: free, one per adult.
Since Sept 1, 2026 Korail has run the Suseo trains that used to be SRT as KTX too, and its announcement says Korail's passenger rules now apply to them. The fare cut announced that August took a standard KTX seat from Seoul to Busan to 54,400 won for an adult, down from 59,800. Half of that is 27,200 won. That's my calculation, not a price I saw on a booking screen.
Can I get a stroller through the Seoul subway?
Yes, by lift. As of Dec 29, 2025, all 338 stations the city runs (Lines 1 to 9, plus the Ui-Sinseol and Sillim lines) have an elevator route from the street to the platform. The city's announcement says stroller users, like wheelchair users, can now go between street and platform by elevator alone.
At stations I photographed in September 2026, one gate at the end of the row was wider and marked with a stroller icon. What I couldn't find is an official line saying every station has one. See the box below.
FAQ
Do kids ride free on the Seoul subway?
Under 6, yes. Up to three young children ride free with each adult who pays. From age 6 a child pays 550 won on a registered T-money card.
Do foreign children get the child fare in Seoul?
Yes, once their T-money card is registered with their date of birth. T-money's English page for foreigners tells visitors to do this at a convenience store or a T-money service centre.
What age is a child fare in Korea?
On Seoul's subway and buses, 6 to 12. Teens are 13 to 18. Ages are in full years.
Do teenagers get a discount on a single journey ticket?
No. A teen pays the adult single ticket price, 1,650 won. The 900 won teen fare needs a registered card.
Is there a kids' Climate Card?
No child version is on the city's price table. There's a 13,000 won teen 7-day pass, tied to age verification on the T-money website.
Things I could not confirm:
- Whether a foreign visitor can get the 13,000 won teen 7-day Climate Card pass. The city requires teen verification on the T-money website, and I couldn't see past its login.
- Whether a passport counts as the ID when you register a birth date at a convenience store. T-money's English page says "ID card"; only travellers' reports mention passports.
- Whether a visitor can do T-money's online registration (card number and birth date) without a Korean phone. The page asked for a Windows security program before showing the form.
- Whether a TMONEY TRAVEL CARD or the T-money side of a WOWPASS can be registered to a child or teen. Neither company says.
- Whether the station single ticket machines have a child button. The 550 won child single ticket is on Seoul Metro's fare table, but the English buying guide only asks how many tickets.
- What a fourth child under 6 pays. Seoul Metro's fare page says the child fare; I found no second official page saying so.
- The exact child and teen fare on the AREX all-stop train from the airport, and the AREX Express rule for under-6s.
- Whether every station has a wider gate marked for strollers. I photographed one, but found no official page that says so.
"Will my card work" is one of my five questions before any trip. With kids along, the better question is whether the card knows how old they are.
More on riding the Seoul subway and buses
Comments
Post a Comment