Korea Late Winter Sonata 2015-Busan-Taking Busan Metro

 Taking Metro in Busan is pretty easy. If you lived in cities and have taken metro in your home country, it should be no different from your home country version.

Unlike the Seoul counterpart, Busan metro have lesser lines in comparison. Also, we did not travel all the lines and only took Line 1 & 2. But the travelling time is pretty long depending on where you are going.

For instance, we stayed in Dong Baek, Haeundae area. To get here from Busan station where we came from Seoul via KTX, we travelled 50min with a transfer station in between.

Long stair case every where

One time that we observed about Busan metro is, the stations are pretty deep underground. Especially those that we visited. And there isn't any escalators, all are stairs and occasionally you can find a lift that serves as an exit in the station. But normally we take the stairs.

When we arrived in Busan KTX/ train station, we could not see Busan metro station despite signs pointing out that it is just straight ahead. Turns out that you need to exit Busan KTX / train station, walk across a parade square and then you will get to see the entrance which is a long flight of stairs down to the metro (Exit 8).

On our return trip, we found that there was a lift nearby. If you are carrying big luggage like us and wish to take the lift, turn left when you see the long flight of stairs. There is a lift near the main road. Similarly, when you come from the metro, there are signs directing you to the exit of Busan KTX/ train station. I think you should take exit 6 for the lift.

Station nearest to our apartment

Also for certain metro stations, you should be careful of which side to enter at the concourse area. Unlike SG MRT where platforms are in the middle, Busan metro mostly have tracks in the middle and platforms at each side.

This sometimes would mean if you enter the wrong side of the gates, you would have to exit and enter the other side again. In Korea, they deduct a certain fare when you enter the gates. If you take more than the initial stations, then more fare will be deducted during exit.

So if you enter the wrong exit, then you would end up paying the basic fare even you didn't take the trains and have to pay again when you enter on the other side. Also the passenger service center is also unlike the SG version near the gates. It is somewhere in the long walk way. You can press the help button at the handicap exit and they would answer but many a times speaking Korean so it's basically of not much help.

Haeundae Exit 3

When inside the metro, you can check the metro map above the doors and it would indicate which stations will allow you to cross over to opposite platform or able to cross over by taking the stairs. They are indicated by blue&pink circles which station numbers are indicated inside the circles. Those station circles without any colours would meant you need to tap exit and re-enter at the opposite side.

In a nutshell before you tap your card at the gates, you should checked the sign above the gates which will indicates the stations along the line. This will help you to determine the general direction of the trains.

We had brought out T-cards in Seoul and it is allowed to use in Busan Metro too. However, Busan have their own version too, so you can only top up the T-cards in C U convenience stores which is not too difficult since you can find it nearly everywhere in Busan.

Station information on platform

Busan metro is pretty frequent, you need not wait too long for a train and it is not crowded. More often than not, I get to find a seat on the train, a change from our sardine packed trains back home.