Monthly Pass for All Seoul Public Transport Planned

A monthly pass costing W65,000 will give users unlimited access to all public transportation in Seoul, down to shared bicycles (US$1=W1,331).

The pass will be available on a trial basis from January to May next year and be fully rolled out in July.

It will be available on a smartphone app and as a physical card, which costs W3,000 extra for the plastic. It will also give users access to the new Han River bus that starts running in September of next year.

But the pass cannot be used outside the capital or on commuter buses that traverse city limits.

The transit pass is modeled after Germany's D-Ticket that was introduced in May this year and costs 49 euros, giving users access to all local transportation networks across the whole country, though not to travel between them. A total of 11 million D-Tickets were sold just three months after their release.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, "The introduction of the new travel pass is necessary for residents in times of rising bus and subway fares amid high inflation and high interest rates."

Seoul city raised the bus fare by W300 in August and will boost the subway fare from W1,250 to W1,400 in October and to W1,550 in the second half of next year.