© Thomas Roger Lux・Unsplash License

South Korea

Busan

Korea's second city, famous for its beaches and film festival. The metro runs from the seaside to the hot springs.

Busan Metro (부산 도시철도)

No bank card gets you through the gates here, and the ticket machines take no credit cards. The only place an overseas card works is the operator's app - without it, cash buys a QR ticket or an EZL transport card.

Updated on August 20, 2026

How to ride

  1. 1
    Buy your ticket in the operator's app
    The "부산도시철도" app takes overseas cards, and has a no-signup quick-buy option.
  2. 2
    Without the app, pay cash
    Station machines take no cards - pay cash for a QR ticket, or for a transport card at the station or a convenience store.
  3. 3
    Scan or tap at the gate
    Hold QR and app tickets face-down over the reader; touch transport cards to the pad.
  4. 4
    Go back through the gate when you get off
    Exit with the same ticket. Stay inside the gates over three hours and you pay extra.

Fares

Single fares3

Transport card or app ticket (zones 1-2)
1,600 won for the first 10 km from your starting station, 1,800 won beyond that
1,600〜1,800 KRW ≈ $1
QR single ticket (station machine)
100 won more than the card fare, and valid for 180 days from the day it is issued
1,700〜1,900 KRW ≈ $1
Busan-Gimhae Light Rail (towards Gimhae Airport)
Only the adult fare matches the metro; youth and child fares differ. Over-65s pay the full adult fare.
1,600〜1,800 KRW ≈ $1

Passes & multi-ride2

1-day pass (app only)
Only for the calendar day you first tap in, and only on metro lines 1-4
6,000 KRW ≈ $4
3-day pass (app only)
Three days from the day you first tap in, and again only on metro lines 1-4
13,000 KRW ≈ $10

Children & discounts2

Youth (13-18)
The card fare; app tickets need a registered account. A QR single ticket costs 1,150-1,300 won.
1,050〜1,200 KRW ≈ $0.8–0.9
Child (6-12)
Free on a transport card with the date of birth registered; app tickets only with a signed-up account.
0 KRW

Estimates use exchange rates as of November 4, 2026

Payment

Tap to ride
There is no tap-to-ride with a bank card at the gates
Card payment at machines
The ticket machines do not accept credit cards
IC card
At the gates: A prepaid transport card such as EZL/Cashbee, touched to the gate
App tickets
부산도시철도캐시비
At the gates: The operator's app takes overseas Visa, Mastercard and JCB cards
Paper tickets
At machines: Single tickets are QR tickets, bought from the machines in the station
Cash
At machines: You buy from the machine by inserting bills or coins

Quick facts

Fares from
1,600 KRW+
Platform name boards carry Korean, English and Chinese. Taken Jan 2018 © Dongchan0417・CC BY-SA 3.0

Heads-up

  • E-scooters and e-bikes are banned in stations and on trains

    You cannot bring an e-scooter or an e-bike into a station or onto a train here. Anything driven by a lithium battery is on the banned list, and being caught with one costs ten times the base fare. Riding one inside the station is separately prohibited.

  • More than three hours inside the gates costs an extra fare

    Stay inside the gates for more than three hours and you are charged another maximum-zone base fare, which catches people waiting around a station with luggage. If you went the wrong way, re-entering the same station with the same ticket within five minutes is waived once.

  • Bicycles only at weekends and holidays, in the last car

    A normal bicycle may only be carried at weekends and on public holidays, and only in the last carriage - never on weekdays (Mon-Fri). A folding bike is fine on any day as long as it stays folded.

Timetable

Typical duration The traffic-proof way across the city - four metro lines plus the light rail out to Gimhae Airport
Check the official site for the latest times and service status

Route map

4 lines ·108 stations
© OpenStreetMapOpenMapTilesData (ODbL)
A Line 1 train on one of the above-ground stretches. Taken Aug 2025 © Heli0987・CC BY-SA 4.0
Editor Naotaka