The Climate Card is a flat-rate pass for Seoul transit. Whether it saves you money depends on
one thing: how many journeys you make in 30 days. A journey is one trip from
door to door, however many buses and trains it takes — Seoul charges a single integrated
fare for it. Put your own numbers in.
What the card does not cover. It covers Seoul-based subway lines, some Gyeonggi-serviced stretches, and Seoul-licensed city and town buses. It does not cover the Sinbundang Line, subway stations outside Seoul, intercity or airport buses, or buses licensed outside Seoul.
The airport railroad (AREX) is included, but you cannot board at Incheon Airport
Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 — you can only get off there.
Transfers are already built in. Seoul charges one integrated fare per
journey, not one per vehicle: “the higher base fare among the serviced modes of
transport will be applied”. So count journeys below, not vehicles — a
bus-then-subway trip is one journey at the higher of the two base fares. The conditions, as
the city writes them:
“The card must be tapped when getting off” — miss this and the
integrated fare does not apply.
“Must board within 30 min. of getting off to transfer (Within 60 min. from 9 PM
to 7 AM next day)”.
Up to five boardings in one journey. The bus page words this as
“up to 4 times (5 boardings)”, the subway page as “up to 5 free
transfers”; we quote both rather than pick one, and five boardings fits either.
“Transfers are not accepted on the same bus/route (base fare when
re-boarding)” — a there-and-back on one line is two journeys, not one.
“The minimum transfer amount is ₩250”.
Short-term passes
Visiting for a few days? The short passes are priced per day, so the maths is simpler.
Pass
Price
Per day
Journeys/day to break even at the subway base fare
Integrated transfer rules — Bus and Subway pages, Seoul Metropolitan Government (English), read 2026-10-07.
The two pages word the transfer limit differently (4 transfers / 5 boardings versus 5 free
transfers); both are quoted above rather than reconciled.
Distance surcharges (100 KRW per 5 km beyond the first 10 km) are not
included, because we do not know your route. If your trips are long, pay-as-you-go costs more
than shown here, which makes the pass look better than this page says.