Three apps beyond Naver Map show Seoul subway routes in English: Seoul Subway, the city's own app, Subway Korea, a third-party option covering five cities, and KakaoMetro, built into the Kakao ecosystem. None of them explain what happens to your fare once you start transferring, or what the colors on a bus stop sign actually mean. This guide covers both.
For turn-by-turn walking and transit directions in one app, see the Naver Map guide. This guide covers what that one doesn't: dedicated subway apps, the transfer discount, reading a bus stop sign, and the reality of "last train."
Subway apps with English support, beyond Naver Map
Seoul Subway: the city's own app for foreign residents
Seoul Metropolitan Government describes its Seoul Subway app as "the country's first-ever subway app exclusive for foreigners," launched in 2023. Per the city's own announcement, it includes real-time timetable information, location-based station guidance, route search from your current location to a destination, train-congestion information by car, a finder for 30 major tourist attractions, and wrong-train alerts at transfer stations, plus directions to exits and restrooms.
Seoul Metro publishes apps under its own developer name on the stores. Confirm you have the current listing before installing, since app branding on the stores changes over time.
Subway Korea: broader city coverage, third-party
Subway Korea, published by Malang Studio Co. Ltd, advertises multi-language support directly on its App Store listing: "Multi-language support: English, Korean, and Japanese," with the store's language tag also showing Simplified and Traditional Chinese. It covers "the latest subway map of Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju," per its own description, and the developer describes a "route finder that allows you to find the easiest and quickest transfer route."
If you split time between Korean cities beyond Seoul, this is the app with the widest coverage.
KakaoMetro: Kakao's subway app, Korean-first
KakaoMetro (카카오지하철), published by Kakao Mobility Corp, lists Korean plus one additional language on its store listing. Its own description covers subway stations "수도권, 부산, 대구, 광주, 대전의 실제 역 위치를 기반으로" (based on actual station locations in the capital region, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon), and it shares the same "fastest exit" concept as Subway Korea, framed in its listing as "5번 출구로 나가려면 어디서 내리는 게 빠르지?" (which door gets you out fastest at exit 5).
Treat KakaoMetro as an app with English in the interface rather than assuming full English search coverage, and test a few searches yourself before relying on it.
None of these three apps is a universal replacement for the other two. Pick the one that matches your situation: the official app if you want the government-built option, Subway Korea if you travel between cities, KakaoMetro if you already use Kakao's other services daily.
How Seoul's transfer discount actually works
The rule, from Seoul's own transport portal: use one card per person, and if you board another bus or train within 30 minutes of tagging off (extended to 60 minutes if you tagged off between 9 PM and 7 AM), that ride counts as a transfer. The discount covers up to 4 transfers, 5 rides total, on a single fare.
Tag out every time
Tagging out is not optional. The city's own guidance states it plainly: "거리추가요금 산정을 위해 승·하차 시마다 교통카드를 단말기에 태그해야하며, 하차 미태그 시 환승 단절로 추가 요금 부과에 주의" (you must tag your card on both boarding and alighting to calculate any distance-based extra fare; failing to tag out breaks the transfer chain and can trigger an extra charge). If you forget, your next ride can be billed as a new base fare instead of a discounted transfer.
A same-route transfer doesn't count
Getting off and back on the same route or the same vehicle does not qualify as a transfer: "동일 노선 및 동일 차량 간 환승 시에는 환승할인 불가" (transfers within the same route or same vehicle are not eligible for the transfer discount).
The clock resets on long rides
If a single ride runs past a maximum duration, the discount resets and the base fare is charged again on alighting: 5 hours for the subway, 5 hours for a city bus, and 1 hour for a village bus. Source text: "승차 후 최대 이용시간을 초과하는 경우 하차 시 기본요금 재부과 - 지하철 5시간, 시내버스 5시간, 마을버스 1시간."
The fare once you're transferring
The base fare covers the first 10 km (30 km for an express bus using no more than one transfer). Beyond that: "기본거리(10km)까지 기본요금만 부과, 이후 초과거리부터는 매 5km마다 추가요금 부과 · 추가요금 : 일반 100원, 청소년 80원, 어린이 50원 적용" (the base fare covers the first 10 km; every additional 5 km adds ₩100 for adults, ₩80 for youth, ₩50 for children).
What one card covers
The integrated system spans more than Seoul city buses. Per the city's own portal: "서울버스(간·지선, 순환, 광역, 마을) / 인천버스 / 경기버스 / 수도권전철(서울교통공사, 한국철도공사, 인천교통공사 등) / GTX-A / 한강버스" (every Seoul bus type, Incheon buses, Gyeonggi buses, every metropolitan subway operator, GTX-A, and the Hangang river ferry). Tag the same card on all of them and the transfer discount follows you across the whole system.
Group tagging has a limit
A group traveling to the same destination can tag multiple people on one card and still get the transfer discount, but only on buses: "버스 다인승 승차 시 동일 인원이 동일 여정을 지속할 경우 환승할인 가능... 지하철 환승은 불가" (multi-person boarding on a bus can carry the transfer discount if the same group continues the same journey; this does not carry onto the subway).
The early-bird discount and transfers don't mix cleanly
Tagging in before 6:30 AM earns a 20% discount on that leg's base fare, the 조조할인 (early-bird discount). But the discount doesn't carry through a transfer. The city's own worked example: a 6:20 AM village bus ride costs ₩960 with the early-bird discount applied. Transfer to a city bus, and the fare difference for that leg (₩1,500 minus the ₩1,200 you already paid, so ₩300) is charged at the normal rate, not the discounted one.
(These figures reflect the current published rates. Fares and thresholds can change; verify current numbers at news.seoul.go.kr before budgeting a commute.)
Reading a Seoul bus stop sign: the five-color system
Seoul's transport portal states the logic directly: "서울시 버스노선은 운행특성에 따라 5가지로 구분하고 있습니다" (Seoul city bus routes are divided into 5 types based on how they operate). Each type has an official color, printed on the bus itself and on the route number at the stop sign.
| Type | Color | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Trunk bus (간선버스) | Blue | Connects outer districts, downtown, and secondary centers, prioritizing speed and schedule reliability |
| Branch bus (지선버스) | Green | Connects to trunk buses and the subway, handling short local trips and neighborhood access |
| Circulator bus (순환버스) | Yellow | Loops within downtown or a secondary business district for local shopping and business trips |
| Express bus (광역버스) | Red | Connects the wider metro area to downtown, aimed at commuters who would otherwise drive |
| Village bus (마을버스) | Green | Supplements branch buses, connecting a neighborhood to its nearest stop or subway station. Privately operated, unlike the other four types |
The route number tells you the same thing
Seoul's English-language transport information system, TOPIS, lays out how each color's route number is built:
- Blue (trunk): departure zone digit, arrival zone digit, then a serial number starting at 0
- Green (branch): departure zone digit, arrival zone digit, then a serial number starting at 11
- Red (express): always starts with 9, then the departure zone digit, then a serial number starting at 00
- Yellow (circulator): the operating zone digit, then a serial number starting at 1
- Airport bus: starts with 6, then a serial number
- Night bus: starts with N, then the departure zone digit, then the arrival zone digit
Seoul is divided into 8 numbered zones used in these route numbers: Zone 0 is Jung-gu, Jongno-gu, and Yongsan-gu. Zone 1 is Seongbuk, Gangbuk, Dobong, and Nowon-gu. Zone 2 is Seongdong, Gwangjin, Dongdaemun, and Jungnang-gu. Zone 3 is Songpa and Gangdong-gu. Zone 4 is Seocho and Gangnam-gu. Zone 5 is Geumcheon, Dongjak, and Gwanak-gu. Zone 6 is Yangcheon, Gangseo, Guro, and Yeongdeungpo-gu. Zone 7 is Eunpyeong, Seodaemun, and Mapo-gu.
Once you know your zone number and your destination's zone number, an unfamiliar bus route number stops being random digits.
Night buses run their own routes
The night bus (올빼미버스), also called the owl bus or N-bus, is a separate system of 14 routes operating roughly "23:00~06:00 /2,500원(카드 기준)" (11 PM to 6 AM, ₩2,500 by card). Each route has its own first and last departure time; route N13, for example, runs "23:30~03:40" between Sangyecheon and Jangjidong.
A night bus route is not a late-running version of a daytime route with the same number. The N routes carry their own route numbers and their own maps. If your usual bus stops for the night, check the night bus map separately rather than assuming an N-prefixed version of your regular number exists.
Finding real-time arrivals at your stop
Every Seoul bus stop carries a 5-digit code on its sign. Seoul's own open-data specification confirms this field, calling it "정류소 번호" (stop number), also referred to as the ARS ID. Enter that code into the city's bus arrival lookup, an SMS lookup service, or any transit app, and you get live countdowns for every route serving that specific stop.
This 5-digit code is the fastest way to get an accurate answer for one stop, rather than guessing from a schedule.
Last bus, last train: check the live number, not a memorized time
Seoul does not publish one citywide "last bus" or "last train" time. The real number depends on your specific stop, station, and direction.
Buses: the last-bus flag is per vehicle
Seoul's real-time bus data structure marks each individual approaching bus as the last bus of the day or not. The city's own API specification describes the field directly: "첫번째도착예정버스의 막차여부 (0:막차아님, 1:막차)" (whether the first upcoming bus is the last bus: 0 means no, 1 means yes), with a matching field for the second upcoming bus. This is computed live, per route and per direction, rather than published as a single fixed time. Checking the live arrival feed for your stop is more reliable than remembering a number from last month.
Subway: check your transfer point, not just your starting station
Seoul Metro publishes a first and last train time for each individual station, not one number for an entire line. That creates a distinction worth knowing: the last train from your home station is not the same question as the last train that still lets you complete a journey with a transfer. A connecting line further down your route can stop running before your starting station's own last train departs.
If your trip home involves a transfer, check the last train time at the transfer station, not only at the station where you get on.
What this guide doesn't cover
Getting, recharging, or registering a transit card is a separate topic from how the transfer discount calculates, and isn't covered here in depth. For turn-by-turn directions, English map mode, and searching without typing Korean, see the Naver Map guide. For travel beyond the capital region, including high-speed rail and intercity buses, that's a different system with its own apps, covered separately.
If you're still early in your move and haven't set up a Korean phone plan or bank account yet, the moving-to-korea checklist covers the sequence. For the wider list of daily apps Korean life runs on, see essential websites and apps for foreign residents, and for how Naver and Kakao divide up Korea's digital life more broadly, see Naver vs. Kakao.