General city buses usually have a step up, but some are the more convenient and more expensive low floor buses (저상버스, 低床버스, jeosang beoseu). Even if you take the same line on a daily basis, you might use one type one day and the other type another day. In order to cover all situations, we’ll cover both types in this website. In addition to the lack of a step at the entrance and exit, low floor buses have brightly colored plastic chains connected to the door and the adjoining wall to show people where the door will move so no one gets hit by them. Here is an image of the entrance of a low floor bus taken from the inside.

When a bus pulls up and opens its door, this is what you’ll see. There is a lot of stuff in this image, so we’ll break it down over the next few images. Click the picture to see a larger version of the image.

The driver is in their own protective shell to limit outside distractions and interference from passengers. On the door to the enclosure, and directly in front of us is the price listing for passengers. Keep in mind that prices will differ by city and will change with time. In addition to saving time, getting free transfers, and getting credit toward your taxes, using a transport card will also save you money with a lower price than paying with cash. If you want to pay for two people with your transport card, clearly tell the driver and wait for him to instruct you to scan your card as he needs to adjust the payment system to charge for two people. If you want to see the images and words more clearly, click the picture to see a larger version of the image.

If you are new to Korea or just staying a short trip, you probably don’t have a transport card. In this case you’ll need to use cash. The driver does have the ability to give you change, but can only give you coins. Try not to put in a 5,000 won note or larger if it can be avoided as you may drain them of change.

Place your cash and/or coins into the top of this unit, just below the handle. They will initially fall a short distance; just far enough people can grab the money out and yet close enough the driver can easily see the money you deposited in order to confirm you paid the correct amount. At their leisure, the driver will pull a switch which will drop the cash further into the basin. Some buses have had automatic switches that seem to operate on a timer. Sometimes a coin or a stray bill gets caught and doesn’t want to fully fall down. When the bus stops at a red light, the driver would use this opportunity to through the switch a few more times to try and knock it down. If you hear some clanging at the front of the bus while waiting at a red light, it probably is this.

The smaller box is where you’ll get your change. Let’s move to the side so we can more easily see where the change will be out. Find the 54, look farther down, and you’ll see a little basin where the coins will collect. This image is a little misleading as it looks like it is near the floor. Don’t worry, it isn’t hard to access.

While the buses might have 500 won coins, they probably only have 100 won coins. In this image we can see the driver has several buttons which are connected to the coin dispenser in order to quickly give you change.

If you have a transport card, you’ll tap it at this scanner. If it worked correctly, you’ll hear a single confirmation beep and the machine will thank you by saying 감사합니다 (感謝합니다, gamsaseumnida). If you hear that word, you are all done. To see other useful words and phrases, click here.

You do not need to pull out your card to use it. Many people leave their card in the outermost card slot of their wallet or smartphone wallet case or sometimes place it directly behind their smartphone and enclose it with a case. The signal is strong enough to read through wallet thickness leather but if you have another RFID card nearby the reader might get confused and give an error message. If you hear 카드를 다시 대주세요 (kadeureul dasi daejuseyo), then you need to scan the card again and might need to remove it from your wallet for it to properly scan.

If you removed the card from the wallet and it still isn't working, the most common issue will be inadequate balance. Do not expect the driver's English language ability to be high enough that he can describe the issue, although this might be different in a major city like Seoul or Busan. Just understand the card isn't working and so you'll need to pay with cash. If your transport card is connected to your bank account, or you have a credit card with built in transport card, this shouldn't be an issue.

As soon as everyone is inside, the driver will usually shut the door and start driving, even if you haven’t finished paying yet. Don’t expect the bus to wait for you to get situated in a seat or grabbing a handle before the bus starts moving. Keep proper balance or you may fall down and be especially careful if the floor is wet as rain water and snow travels inside on shoes. As this notice mentions, when the bus is in motion, grab a handle to make sure you don’t fall. If you want to see the images and words more clearly, click the picture to see a larger version of the image.