Foreign Tourists Can Soon Use Overseas Credit Cards on South Korea Public Transport

International visitors arriving in South Korea will soon be able to ride buses and subways using their home-country credit cards, eliminating the need to purchase and top up separate physical transit cards, hankyung.com reported on November 5, 2026.

Building the Open-Loop Infrastructure

Tmoney, South Korea’s major public transit settlement operator, is partnering with global payment networks including Visa and Mastercard to build an EMV open-loop payment infrastructure. The company plans to run system development and integration tests through the end of the year, rolling out the service on Seoul city buses beginning next year.

The open-loop system lets foreign travelers tap their own credit or debit cards directly onto transit turnstiles and terminals. Because the payment routes through international global payment networks, visitors bypass the traditional local ticketing purchase and recharging routine entirely.

Technical Demands Behind the Tap

While a simple tap looks effortless to the commuter, the underlying engineering handles complex processing. Standard retail card transactions authorize purchases at fixed prices. Public transit requires continuous, rapid tagging by thousands of passengers while calculating variable fares based on distance and transfer rules.

The platform must simultaneously execute card authentication, security protocols, fare calculations, transit usage logging, and financial institution settlements without slowing passenger flow. The need for reliable back-end processing became clear during recent transit payment issues in Jeju Island.

Jeju introduced “ON나라페이” to ease QR and credit card payments for tourists. However, installing dedicated payment terminals alongside existing transit hardware created confusion and slowed boarding and transfers. Jeju is now exploring an integrated terminal development, though it faces technical hurdles with settlement mechanics. Similar EMV open-loop platforms operate globally, including the OMNY system in New York and SimplyGo in Singapore, both launched in 2019.

Tmoney Leverages International Transit Card Experience for Seoul Rollout

Tmoney brings prior international deployment experience to the Seoul rollout. The operator previously partnered with local transit card firm Snapper to build an EMV-based payment solution for about 500 buses, five rail lines, and 49 stations across Wellington, New Zealand, moving from a December pilot to full operations by April.

Domestically, Tmoney signed agreements in September with Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, JCB, and Hana Card to link global payment networks with local transit settlement systems.

Currently, Tmoney is judged to be the only operator equipped with the technology and operational experience to implement the EMV open-loop transit payment system in Korea.

Global payment brand representatives noted Tmoney’s unique market position. Park Yosik, managing director of Tmoney’s AFC business division, emphasized that platform capability connecting diverse transportation modes and payment methods remains vital in the global arena.

With system tests scheduled through December, commuters and international passengers can expect phased deployment on Seoul city buses starting next year.