Seoul Subway Fare Calculator: What the Result Means

The calculator above gives one answer: the fare for the shortest route between two stations, built from the operators’ published fare rules and distance files. Use it to budget a day. Do not use it to predict what a gate will take, because three situations can move the real fare away from the figure: a trip over the Shinbundang Line, an airport-train trip beyond Cheongna, and a trip that depends on a line the calculator leaves out.

Read the result from the top

Type each station by its English name, such as Gimpo Airport or Incheon Airport Terminal 1. The Korean name sits beside it, and a Korean name works too. The result then reads in this order:

• Adult card fare. What an adult is charged on a transport card such as T-money. A foreign visitor is charged as an adult unless they are an infant, a child or a youth, which are defined as for Koreans.
• Single-journey ticket. The card fare plus ₩100. The ticket carries a ₩500 deposit, refunded at the deposit refund machine at your destination.
• Youth and child fares. These assume a registered youth or child card, and are withheld on some trips. The section on youth and child fares below says why.
• Distance, route and changes. The distance that sets the fare, then a route line that begins “Fare distance measured on:” and names the lines used and the stations where you change. It is the route the distance was measured on, which is the shortest route and not necessarily the one you ride. Where AREX’s station-to-station fare table sets the fare, that line instead says “Priced from AREX’s station-to-station fare table”.
• Two answers. Where the shortest route runs over the Shinbundang Line, both fares appear side by side, headed “With the Shinbundang Line” and “Without the Shinbundang Line”.
• Flags. A note when a single-journey ticket cannot make the change you need, a note when a station has platforms the calculator does not cover, and a note when an airport trip joins AREX at a point no published figure covers.

Under the result are two dates: the base fare has applied since 28 June 2025, and the fares were checked on 14 October 2026. Fares move, so the second date tells you how old the figure is.

The rule behind every result

Seoul Metro’s passenger terms, in their Korean text, say the distance used to calculate a fare is the nearest route unless a rule says otherwise (제11조②, “가장 가까운 경로로 계산합니다”). Seoul Metro’s fare page and Korail’s subway guide carry the same “(최단거리 기준)” wording. You are charged for the shortest route between the gate you enter and the gate you leave, not for the route you ride.

The fare is distance-proportional. An adult card fare is ₩1,550 up to 10 km, then ₩100 for each 5 km, or part of 5 km, up to 50 km, then ₩100 for each 8 km beyond that.

The last row shows the rule at work. Seoul Metro’s route search, read on 14 October 2026, displayed 41.4 km for a Seoul Station to Suwon route yet priced it at ₩2,150, the fare for its 39.8 km shortest route; 41.4 km would have priced at ₩2,250. A second trip, Gimpo Airport (김포공항) to Bukhansan Ui (북한산우이), displayed 37.2 km and priced at the ₩2,050 of its 34.5 km shortest route, where 37.2 km would have priced at ₩2,150.

Trips beyond Pyeongtaek or Gapyeong are charged the in-region fare first, then ₩100 for each 4 km, or part of 4 km, past that point. The calculator shows the two distances separately. It shows no youth or child fare on those trips, because the terms and Seoul Metro’s route search disagree on them, and the disagreement has not been settled.

When the shortest route runs over the Shinbundang Line

Shinbundang is run separately and charges a section fare on top of the ordinary fare for the sections you pass.

Shinbundang’s own page says where each charge is taken. Board at one of its stations and you pay the ₩1,550 base fare. Exit at one and you pay the distance excess plus the section fare. Change from Shinbundang to another line at the transfer gate and you pay the section fare there. A single-journey ticket sold without the section fare cannot pass a Shinbundang transfer gate until the section fare is paid at the fare adjustment machine in the transfer passage.

Seoul Station (서울역) to Gangnam (강남) is the clearest case. Seoul Metro’s route search, read on 14 October 2026, returned ₩1,650 for its minimum-time route over lines 4 and 2, and ₩2,350 for its shortest-distance route, which changes at Sinsa onto the Shinbundang Line. The ₩700 difference is the Sinsa to Gangnam section fare. The calculator shows both side by side, labelled “With the Shinbundang Line” and “Without the Shinbundang Line”, because they are two routes, not two prices for one route.

Which one the gate charges depends on whether you pass a Shinbundang gate. Shinbundang’s page names the points where it collects the section fare: its own station gates and the transfer gate where you leave the line for another one. It does not say in words that a rider who passes none pays none. Seoul Metro’s terms do not say whether the shortest-route calculation counts a Shinbundang section the rider never entered, and Shinbundang’s own terms did not display their article bodies when checked. The calculator takes the reading that it does not count one. That choice can only lengthen a distance, never shorten it. Treat it as this page’s reading, not a published rule.

Youth and child fares are withheld on every trip that uses the line. Shinbundang’s own youth and child rule and Seoul Metro’s route search give different amounts for the same trip, and neither has been tested at a gate. For a Shinbundang trip, plan on the adult fare.

The airport train beyond Cheongna

The AREX all-stop train is priced in two parts. From Seoul to Cheongna International City it follows the distance rule. Beyond Cheongna, towards the airport, AREX charges its own section fare, and Seoul Metro’s terms say a trip that includes the section between Incheon Airport Terminal 2 and Cheongna is charged the sum of the two (제11조⑤).

That is why the all-stop from Incheon Airport Terminal 1 costs ₩4,750 to Seoul Station (₩2,150 to Cheongna plus ₩2,600 beyond it) and ₩4,650 to Hongik Univ. (홍대입구; ₩2,050 plus ₩2,600). The distance rule alone does not produce these figures. The airport transfer guide compares this train with the Express, the bus and a taxi.

For a trip that starts at an AREX station, the calculator reads the fare from AREX’s own station-to-station table instead of adding the parts itself. That table covers Incheon Airport Terminal 2, Yeongjong, Unseo and Cargo Terminal as well as Terminal 1, so Seoul Station to Terminal 2 reads ₩5,350. Near Cheongna the table is not a plain sum: Gyeyang to Terminal 1 is ₩3,850, which is not Gyeyang to Cheongna plus Cheongna to Terminal 1. The table draws each pair of stations once and does not say in words that the reverse trip costs the same, so the calculator prices the reverse trip from the same figure.

Three limits apply. The calculator prices a trip beyond Cheongna from AREX’s table where the trip starts at an AREX station. For a trip that starts at a station off AREX, it charges one integrated distance fare to Cheongna plus AREX’s section fare from Cheongna, which is how Seoul Metro’s terms add the two (제11조⑤), and it does so only where the shortest route joins AREX at Gimpo Airport or east of it. The route line for such a trip names the lines to Cheongna and says the rest is AREX’s section fare. Where a route joins AREX at Geomam, Gyeyang or Cheongna from another line, it shows no fare, because no source checked gives one. Its youth and child fares for these trips are a per-section reading of AREX’s rule that reproduces two Seoul Metro route-search results and has not been tested at a gate. And it does not price the Express (직통열차) at all. That is a separate ticket bought before boarding. AREX’s page lists ₩13,000 for an adult and a regular fare of ₩18,500 to Terminal 1 and ₩19,100 to Terminal 2, and does not say what separates the two, so check the price when you buy.

Single ticket, card, youth and child

On a card, an adult pays the distance fare. On a single-journey ticket an adult pays ₩100 more. A youth on a single-journey ticket pays the adult single fare. A child’s single-journey fare equals the child card fare, and a child can buy a child single-journey ticket without any card registration.

The card fares for the two younger classes follow the same steps from a lower base. A youth pays ₩900 plus ₩80 for each step, and a child pays ₩550 plus ₩50 for each step. In the operators’ definitions a child is 6 to under 13 and a youth is 13 to under 19, and an infant under 6 travels free, up to 3 per guardian.

The catch is registration. Seoul Metro’s terms charge the adult fare to an unregistered youth or child card once 10 days have passed since its first use. Shinbundang tells riders to register within 10 days of purchase. The two clocks start at different moments, so register early. The sources checked do not say how a short-stay visitor registers a card, so this page cannot tell you that route, and the calculator defaults to the adult fare.

What the calculator leaves out

• Three lines. Seohae, Gimpo Goldline and Sillim are not covered, because no official distance file for them was found. Gimpo Airport’s Goldline and Seohae platforms are flagged rather than priced. If one of these lines were ever the shortest path between two covered stations, the calculator’s distance would be longer than the gate’s, so the error would run towards overcharging.
• GTX-A and the AREX Express. GTX-A has its own fare and joins the integrated distance fare only on a card transfer; the AREX Express is a separate ticket. The calculator prices neither.
• The early-bird discount. Seoul Metro’s terms take 20% off the base fare for card boardings from the first train until 06:30, except after a transfer from another mode (제11조⑥), and Shinbundang says its section fare is excluded. The calculator applies none of it, so a boarding before 06:30 can cost less than the result.
• Bus transfers. The calculator prices a subway trip alone. With a transport card the integrated subway-bus transfer allows up to 4 transfers, each within 30 minutes of the previous ride, or 60 minutes between 21:00 and 07:00.
• Free travel. Free travel for older riders and riders with disabilities rests on Korean statutes, and the older riders’ free ticket needs a listed Korean ID. The sources checked state no route for a foreign visitor, so the calculator offers no free category.
• A Seoul Station change. A single-journey ticket cannot change at Seoul Station between Line 1, Line 4 or AREX and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line. The calculator flags that change instead of pricing it.

Two smaller limits sit under the result. The official distance files disagree with one another in a few places, so a trip that sits right on a step boundary can come out one ₩100 step either way. And no announced fare change turned up in the sources checked, but Seoul’s press-release board and Seoul Metro’s notice board were not searched, so check Seoul Metro’s fare page before you rely on the figure.

Where the sources disagree

• Seoul Metro’s English terms. The English summary page omits the shortest-route clause that the Korean terms state, and says the Korean version takes precedence. This page cites the Korean text for the routing rule.
• Other operators’ surcharges. One operator’s fare page carries a note on other lines’ surcharges that differs from those lines’ own pages. The calculator follows each operator’s own page.
• Uijeongbu LRT. Its own page adds ₩200 on top of the connecting fare for every class, with no youth or child discount, and the calculator adds that. Another operator’s page lists a different amount.
• EverLine. Its own terms list integrated fares and no surcharge, so the calculator adds none. Two restatements elsewhere say otherwise, one without a figure. If you ride it, the result may sit below the gate.
• Registration. The terms of Seoul Metro and Shinbundang agree that youth and child cards must be registered but start the clock differently, as above.

For a transport card to pay with, see T-money or Climate Card.