A commuter goes through a fare gate without swiping his transportation card under the “tagless system.” (Seoul Metropolitan Government)
By Lee Kyoung Mi
As early as next year, Seoul Metropolitan Subway lines 1-8 and intracity buses will adopt a “tagless” system of mass transit payment that automatically deducts fares without the need to swipe a card.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it will set technical standards to commercialize the system and expand it to the entire metropolitan area. The goal is to provide advanced mass transit services by quickly erecting a tagless environment in the capital’s world-class public transit system.
The tagless system offers major convenience and accessibility, especially for those with mobility impairments, as a passenger simply walks through a turnstile to pay with no smart card needed. This is expected to reduce congestion during rush hour when stations experience high passenger volume.
In September last year, the system became the first in the world to commercialize the tagless method on 12 stations of the Ui-Sinseol Light Rail Transit in the capital.
The Seoul Metro, operator of the capital’s subway system, is running pilot projects to have tagless technology used on all lines by the second half of next year.
The city’s intracity buses have also completed tagless boarding and disembarkation trials and the system is undergoing an upgrade for higher accuracy and faster payment processing. Following a verification test on a single route in November, the phased rollout of the system for intracity buses is under consideration for the first half of next year.
km137426@korea.kr
