Seoul Subway Single-Journey Ticket 2026: Get Your 500-Won Deposit Back Before You Leave the Station

Bottom line: If you buy a single-journey ticket instead of using a T-money card, put that same ticket back into the deposit refund machine after you exit the station to get your 500 won back. Pocket it and walk out, and that 500 won is gone for good.

If you didn't know: A single-journey ticket is sold at the base fare plus a 500-won deposit. If four travelers ride eight times round-trip in a day and skip the refund each time, that's 4,000 won gone for nothing. The longer the trip and the bigger the group, the more money gets left behind.

You buy a single-journey ticket from an unstaffed machine inside the station by selecting your destination and paying cash or card; out comes a coin-sized plastic token card. Tag it at the turnstile to enter, then tag again at your destination to exit. Many foreign travelers, unaware of the deposit system, pocket the ticket as a souvenir or just toss it — but the refund machine usually sits right next to the card top-up machines outside the same station's turnstiles, so it's easy to find. The ticket machine screens offer English, Chinese and Japanese, so you can check your destination and fare without reading Korean. If you're riding several times in a day, a T-money card or a Seoul one-day pass is more convenient than buying single-journey tickets over and over — you skip the deposit hassle each time and get transfer discounts too. If you can't find the refund machine, just say 'deposit' to station staff and they'll point you to it.

Journey stage: First 24 hours · Verified 2026-10-15 · Source: Seoul Metro