Gyeonggi-do promotes ‘tagless transportation payment system’ to be compatible with the metropolitan area

Proposal of discussion organization for Seoul and Incheon City

Improve transfer and discount issues with app

Entered: 2024-03-25 04:02

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 24th that it is promoting the compatibility of the non-contact bus fare payment system (tagless system) in the metropolitan area. Currently, it is not compatible with Gyeonggi-do metropolitan buses and Seoul metropolitan railways, so there is the inconvenience of having to contact (tag) a physical transportation card to transfer in places such as Seoul and Incheon.

The province received a positive response by proposing a ‘organization to discuss expansion of tagless system introduction and technology compatibility’ containing these contents at the director-level working council of Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, and Incheon held at the provincial office on the 21st.

The tagless system is a system in which fares are paid using the wireless communication technology of the smartphone instead of touching the terminal with an existing smartphone or transportation card. It will be introduced to metropolitan buses in the province starting in 2021, and is currently in operation on 2,828 metropolitan buses across the province. It is scheduled to be applied to about 950 city bus routes passing through Yongin and Uijeongbu in April.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has also been operating a tagless system on some subway lines, including the Uisinseol Line, since September of last year. It is scheduled to be introduced on Seoul Subway Lines 1 to 8 in the second half of next year. Incheon City is also promoting its introduction on some metropolitan bus routes, and is considering introducing it on subways that KORAIL also manages.

The problem is that Gyeonggi-do's metropolitan buses, where the tagless system has been introduced, are not compatible with other regional tagless systems, so transfers cannot be made using the Gyeonggi-do tagless app. If you do not have a physical card registered in the tagless app, you may not be able to receive a transfer discount.

As the province gained consensus on improving tagless compatibility issues from Seoul and Incheon through this meeting, it plans to hold regular meetings and push for expansion of tagless and improvement of technology compatibility.

Yoon Tae-wan, head of the provincial bus policy department, said, “If the compatibility issue is not resolved, the current integrated transfer system may cause inconvenience to users.” He added, “Discussions between local governments in the metropolitan area and KORAIL to resolve this are absolutely necessary, and we will lead discussions.” He said.

Uijeongbu = Reporter Park Jae-gu

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[Source] - Kookmin Ilbo

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