The short version
Buying the card gives you nothing back. You have to register it on the website and take at least fifteen trips a month before any refund starts. Seoul's unlimited flat pass ends on 30 September, and a nationwide refund scheme takes its place.
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Deadlines that matter
Topping up a 30-day Climate Card
By when: By 31 August 2026
If you miss it: Top-ups stop on 1 September. Whatever you already loaded stays usable until its own expiry.
Using a 30-day Climate Card
By when: Prepaid until 29 September 2026, postpaid until 30 September
If you miss it: The scheme closes completely on 1 October. After that there is no unlimited flat pass, only the refund scheme.
Registering your card with Modu-ui Card
By when: Before the month you want refunded begins
If you miss it: Fares from before registration are not counted. Holding the card is not enough on its own.
Reaching 15 trips in a month
By when: Between the 1st and the last day of each month
If you miss it: No refund for that month. The count resets every month.
Right now
- 1If you are only here for a short stay, you can stop reading here. Buy a Climate Card short-term pass. There is nothing to register.
- 2If you are staying for months and already have your Alien Registration Card, pick one transit card and register it on the Modu-ui Card site. An unregistered card earns nothing no matter how much you ride.
- 3If you already hold a 30-day Climate Card, 30 September is the last day. Register before then and the switch happens without a gap.
What to have ready
- Alien Registration Card: Used for identity verification. If you do not have one yet, the short-term pass is the realistic option.
- Korean phone number: Needed to sign up and verify who you are.
- A transit card: Prepaid or a postpaid credit card, either is fine. What matters is riding with the card you registered.
- A Korean bank account: Where the refund lands. Some cards return it as a discount on your statement instead.
Phrases you can copy and paste
Step by step
- 1
Start by deciding how long you are staying
For a few days to a few weeks, the Climate Card short-term pass fits: 5,000 won for one day, 8,000 for two, 10,000 for three, 15,000 for five, 20,000 for seven, unlimited within Seoul. The 30-day version is ending but these short passes continue. If instead you are settling in for months and commuting daily, the refund scheme is the better fit.
- 2
Sign up for Modu-ui Card and register your card
- Where:
- korea-pass.kr, website or app
Anyone aged 19 or over can join, foreign residents included. Create an account, then enter the number of the transit card you already use. That registration is the whole mechanism. You do not need a new card, and fares you paid before registering are never backdated. If you live in Seoul and were already using Modu-ui Card or K-Pass, the Seoul benefits attach by themselves from 1 September.
- 3
Pass fifteen trips in the month
You need 15 or more rides between the first and last day of the month for that month to pay out. A round-trip commute reaches it in eight working days. A month with a long trip away or a stretch of working from home can fall short, and that is the rule working as designed rather than a fault.
- 4
Two ways of paying you back, and the better one applies by itself
- Cost:
- Percentage type 20 to 53.3 percent, flat type threshold 62,000 won (55,000 for youth)
The percentage type returns a share of what you spent: 20 percent for most people, 30 percent for youth, two-child households and seniors, 50 percent for households with three or more children, and 53.3 percent for low-income households. The flat type works from a threshold instead and pays off in months when you ride a lot. In Seoul that threshold is 62,000 won for the standard type and 55,000 won for the youth type, the same figures as the old 30-day Climate Card. You do not have to choose between them; whichever is better for you is applied automatically.
- 5
If you are in your thirties, check the youth range again
The youth bracket widened from 19 to 34 into 19 to 39. Seoul asked for this, so Seoul residents aged 35 to 39 now qualify for the youth refund rate. It is worth rechecking rather than assuming you aged out.
- 6
There is a window where travelling off-peak pays more
From 1 April to 30 September 2026 the refund rates are temporarily raised to encourage staggered commuting. Rides that begin between 5:30 and 6:30, 9:00 and 10:00, 16:00 and 17:00, or 19:00 and 20:00 qualify, measured from when you board. It is a temporary measure, so rates return to normal after 30 September.
The Korean words
- 환급hwan-geup, refund
- Money paid back to you later, after you have spent it.
- 정액형jeong-aek-hyeong, flat-rate type
- The calculation that works from a set threshold.
- 정률형jeong-nyul-hyeong, percentage type
- The calculation that returns a share of what you spent.
- 단기권dan-gi-gwon, short-term pass
- An unlimited pass bought by the day.
- 청년cheong-nyeon, youth
- The age range differs from scheme to scheme.
- 카드 등록kadeu deung-nok, card registration
- Putting your card number on the website.
Easy to miss
- Buying the card and never registering it. This is the most common and the most expensive mistake, because earlier fares are not backdated.
- Riding with a different card from the one you registered. If several transit cards live in your wallet, your trips get split between them.
- Trying to top up a 30-day Climate Card in September. Top-ups close on 31 August.
- Remembering one single youth age. The Climate Card used 19 to 39 while the refund scheme used to stop at 34, and from September Seoul residents are on 19 to 39.
- Reading a month below 15 trips as a bug. The condition simply was not met.
- Commuting on the Shinbundang Line or an express bus while thinking in old flat-pass terms. The Climate Card left out the Shinbundang Line, GTX, express and airport buses, and buses licensed outside Seoul.
You can skip this if
- Visitors here for a few days do not need any of this. A short-term pass or a plain transit card is simpler.
- Without an Alien Registration Card you will be stopped at identity verification. Come back once you have it.
- Living outside Seoul means different thresholds and different local top-ups. The 62,000 and 55,000 won figures here are Seoul's.
- Under 19s cannot join. For teenagers, look at the Climate Card short-term passes instead.
When it is time for a person
- Once the same journey has become your routine and you want your commute and its cost sorted in one go, someone who looks at your whole setup helps.
Where this comes from
Rules, fees and deadlines change and depend on your exact case. Please confirm the details with the official sources before you act.