NOW

When did riding a Seoul bus change from handing something over to simply tapping?

Today, a tap is enough. But Seoul bus fares once moved through metal tokens and paper coupon tickets before electronic cards became normal. Follow those tiny objects and you can see everyday mobility changing with them.

1977 · THE TOKEN

Seoul introduced bus tokens in December 1977, partly to reduce the hassle of handling cash and change.

1979 · PAPER COUPONS FOR STUDENTS

Student tokens were replaced by paper coupon tickets from 1979. Riders bought them in strips and tore off one for each trip.

1996 → NOW · FROM HANDING OVER TO TAPPING

Electronic transit cards appeared in 1996. Tokens disappeared in 1999, Seoul coupon tickets in 2007, and payment kept evolving toward T-money, bank cards and phones.

Sources & context

2026-09-18

museum.seoul.go.kr ↗love.seoul.go.kr ↗