Ride public transit 15 or more times in a month, and 20% of what you spent comes back to you. From April 1 to September 30, 2026, riding during the designated off-peak windows pushes that share as high as 50%. This is "Modu Card" (모두의카드), the program that used to be called K-Pass. As of July 29, 2026, it had more than 6 million members.
For foreigners, though, there's a screen you need to look at before you ever get to the refund tables: the identity verification step at the very start of sign-up. The only options there are a simple authentication certificate (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, KakaoBank, Toss, Woori, Hana, NongHyup), mobile phone identity verification (SMS or PASS), a joint certificate (공동인증서), or linking a Kakao or Naver account. All four assume real-name verification through a Korean bank or mobile carrier.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부) has said of K-Pass that "sign-up is available only to foreigners who have an Alien Registration Number, and applicants must enter their Alien Registration Number instead of a resident registration number" (quoted from a 2024 press Q&A / the current operating standard needs official confirmation). In other words, if you have an Alien Registration Number you can try to sign up, and if you don't, this screen is where you stop. Visitors staying 90 days or less are generally not subject to alien registration, so they simply don't have a number.
First, the Fork in the Road — Do You Have an Alien Registration Number?
The first thing to check isn't the refund rate, it's your ID. If you go get a card before you have an Alien Registration Number, you're only burning time.
| Your situation | Modu Card sign-up | Realistic option |
|---|---|---|
| You have an Alien Registration Card (ARC) | You can try to sign up | Get an eligible card → create an account → monthly refunds |
| ARC applied for but not yet received | May be hard to proceed before your number is finalized (needs official confirmation) | Sign up once the number is issued; use a regular transit card in the meantime |
| Short stay of 90 days or less | Not possible in principle | Climate Card short-term pass or a regular transit card |
Article 31 of the Immigration Act (「출입국관리법」) requires foreigners who intend to stay longer than 90 days to complete alien registration at the immigration office with jurisdiction over their place of residence within 90 days of entry. Turn that around and it means short-term visitors staying 90 days or less generally have no Alien Registration Number.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government says the same thing in its Climate Card (기후동행카드) guidance: if you "don't have a mobile phone or have difficulty signing up for K-Pass," use a short-term pass. So the situation where sign-up is blocked is something the system itself already anticipates.
Note: If you get the card but skip creating an account, you won't earn a single won in refunds. With Modu Card, "get the card + create an account" is one set.
From K-Pass to Modu Card — Sorting Out the Names
Search for this and you'll get K-Pass, Modu Card, the Altteul Transport Card, The Gyeonggi Pass, and Incheon I-Pass all jumbled together. Sort out the family tree once and it stops being confusing.
- The Altteul Transport Card (알뜰교통카드) ran through April 30, 2024, and was converted to K-Pass on May 1, 2024. Its mileage was based on distance traveled, so you had to log your departure and arrival in an app on every ride — K-Pass is based on the amount you spend, so that logging isn't needed.
- K-Pass was later renamed Modu Card as the benefits were expanded. The program didn't change; it's the same program under a new name.
- Modu Card adds a flat-rate track (a full refund of whatever exceeds a threshold amount) on top of the existing percentage-based track. The flat-rate track launched on January 1, 2026, and the program runs with 229 participating local governments and 27 card issuers.
- The Gyeonggi Pass, Incheon I-Pass, and the Climate Pass aren't separate cards — they're extra benefits that local governments layer on top of Modu Card.
If you already have an Altteul Transport Card, you can use it for Modu Card sign-up as is, with no reissue needed.
The Three Requirements and the Sign-Up Steps
The official eligibility page lists three requirements. And on that same page, it says "Foreigners are OK too!"
- Be an adult aged 19 or older
- Get a card that's eligible for Modu Card
- Be a resident of a participating local government
Cards come in four types: postpaid credit, postpaid check, physical prepaid, and mobile prepaid. Issuers include Shinhan, Woori, Hana, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, NH NongHyup, BC, Lotte, IBK, Gwangju Bank, K Bank, iM Bank, KakaoBank, Idong-ui Jeulgeoum (이동의즐거움), iM U-Pay, KakaoPay, NaverPay, and Korail (mobile Rail+).
Tip: Postpaid cards (credit and check) need a payment account, while prepaid cards work by charging money in an app. Which card issuers will actually give a foreigner a postpaid transit card is up to each issuer's own policy, so visa status, length of stay, and income requirements may all come into play. It's safest to ask the card issuer directly before you apply.
Sign-Up Runs in This Order
- Card validity check — confirms that the card you got is eligible for Modu Card
- Terms and conditions agreement
- Identity verification — simple authentication certificate / mobile phone verification (SMS or PASS) / joint certificate / Kakao or Naver account linking
- Address, low-income, and multi-child verification — confirms you're a resident of a participating local government and whether you qualify for a higher rate
- Member information entry
For foreigners, the real gate is step 3. There's no official guidance on which of those four methods actually clears using only an Alien Registration Card, so it's hard to say for certain. Carrier real-name verification and bank certificate issuance each have their own requirements. It's worth checking with your card issuer, your mobile carrier, or the Modu Card call center in advance.
Know Ahead of Time That the Screens Are Korean-Only
The official "K-Pass" iOS app published by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (한국교통안전공단, App ID 1538531939) lists Korean as its only supported language. The official site korea-pass.kr is also set to lang="ko" and has no language switcher. That means there's no English UI, so it's better to go through the process with a Korean-reading friend or a translation tool at your side.
How Much Comes Back — Percentage-Based and Flat-Rate
Modu Card runs both tracks at the same time. You don't pick one when you sign up — the system automatically applies whichever track is better for you that month.
Percentage-Based — A Set Share of What You Spent
| Type | Who qualifies | Base refund rate | Off-peak rides (2026-04-01 – 09-30) |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Everyone else | 20% | 50% |
| Youth | Ages 19–34 under the Framework Act on Youth (「청년기본법」) | 30% | 60% |
| Two children / Seniors | Two-child households / age 65+ under the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act (「노인복지법」) | 30% | +30 percentage points applied |
| Three or more children | Multi-child verification | 50% | 80% |
| Low income | Basic Livelihood recipients and the near-poor bracket | 53.3% | 83.3% |
The temporary "Half-Price Modu Card" policy, introduced in response to high fuel prices, runs from April 1 to September 30, 2026. Board during the off-peak windows below during that period and your percentage-based refund rate goes up by 30 percentage points.
- 05:30 – 06:30
- 09:00 – 10:00
- 16:00 – 17:00
- 19:00 – 20:00
Shift your commute an hour earlier or later and your refund rate goes from 20% to 50%. That said, nothing has been announced yet about whether this temporary measure will be extended past September 30, 2026 (as of August 2026).
Flat-Rate — Everything Above the Threshold, Refunded in Full
The flat-rate track works like this: once your monthly transit spending passes a threshold amount, everything above that threshold is refunded in full. It comes in two forms.
| Category | Coverage | Threshold for general residents in the greater Seoul area (normal) | Temporary reduction (2026-04-01 – 09-30) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Trips with a total fare under 3,000 won | 62,000 won | 30,000 won |
| Plus | Also includes metropolitan buses (광역버스) and GTX | 100,000 won | 50,000 won |
If you commute daily in the greater Seoul area, your monthly transit spending will often exceed the threshold. During the temporary period the thresholds are roughly 50% lower, so there are more months where the flat-rate track works out better.
The 15-Ride Requirement and How "One Ride" Is Counted
- Refunds are paid only for months in which you used public transit 15 or more times between the 1st and the last day of the month. The one exception is your first month after signing up, which pays out even if you fall short of 15.
- There's no cap on refunds. The old K-Pass limit of 60 accruals per month has been abolished.
- "One ride" here isn't a boarding — it's a trip. Under the transfer discount system, one trip runs from your first boarding until just before your next fresh boarding, and in the greater Seoul area up to 4 transfers / 5 boardings total count as a single trip.
So if your morning commute goes bus → subway → village bus, that's one ride, and a day where you make the same journey both ways counts as two. The more transfers your route involves, the longer it takes to reach 15. If the transfer rules themselves are what's confusing, we've laid out the integrated transfer standards separately in How to Get Subway and Bus Transfer Discounts.
Which Rides Count, and Which Don't
The list of eligible transit is broader than you'd expect, but there's one trap right at the boundary.
Counts toward refunds
- Buses — including village buses, city buses, and metropolitan (광역) buses
- Urban rail and metropolitan rail — including the Sinbundang Line and GTX
- The Airport Railroad (AREX)
Rides outside your home region count too. Even if the local government you registered with is Seoul, taking the subway in Busan still counts toward your total.
Does not count
- Intercity buses (시외버스) and express intercity buses (고속버스)
- Airport buses
- KTX and SRT
The rule is simple: transit you board with a separately issued ticket isn't eligible. The trip to the airport is where people get this wrong most often. The Airport Railroad counts, but airport buses don't. Same destination, different answer depending on how you get there — and if you're trying to hit 15 rides a month, that difference feels pretty significant.
When and How the Refund Arrives
Refunds are passed to the card issuer within the first 7 business days of the month after the month you accrued them. What happens next depends on your card type.
| Card type | How it's paid |
|---|---|
| Postpaid credit and check cards | Deposited to your payment account or deducted from your bill |
| Mobile T-money | Paid as T-mileage |
| EZL (이즐) | Paid by whatever method the operator specifies |
| KakaoPay / Korail Rail+ | Paid into your coupon box |
| NaverPay | Added to your balance |
The prepaid options are what to watch here. Prepaid types like KakaoPay, NaverPay, and mobile T-money pay out as points, coupons, or balance rather than a bank deposit. That said, there's no official statement saying "you can sign up without a Korean bank account," and none of the operators' guidance confirms whether the prepaid apps accept sign-up with an Alien Registration Number. If you haven't opened an account yet, it's safest to ask the card issuer about this first.
The accrual itself isn't real-time either. It takes an average of 2–3 days after you use the card for a ride to show up, and up to 14 days in the worst case. No need to panic if today's ride doesn't appear right away.
Regional Add-Ons — Gyeonggi, Incheon, and Seoul in September
Even with the same Modu Card, the benefits layered on top differ depending on where you live.
- The Gyeonggi Pass — for Gyeonggi Province residents aged 19 and up whose registered address is in the province. It widens the youth bracket to ages 19–39. As of January 1, 2026, Goyang City residents are excluded from the extra benefits.
- Incheon I-Pass — for Incheon residents aged 19 and up whose registered address is in Incheon, with the same widened youth bracket of ages 19–39.
- Modu Card (Climate Pass) — Seoul City and the Metropolitan Transport Commission are launching this officially on September 1, 2026, timed to the end of Climate Card operations (scheduled). The Seoul-specific benefit is a wider youth bracket (ages 19–34 → ages 19–39), and Seoul residents already using Modu Card get it applied automatically with no reissue. Discounts on Ttareungi bikes, on cultural and leisure facilities like Seoul Moon, Seoul Botanic Park, and Seoul Grand Park, and for discharged veterans (ages 40–42) come along with it. These benefits are limited to Seoul residents, though.
Note: Local governments define eligibility as "residents with a registered address (주민등록) in ○○" or as "Seoul residents" — and their official guidance doesn't spell out whether the address on your alien registration counts. To find out whether you qualify, check with that local government or the Modu Card call center.
No Alien Registration Number? — The Climate Card Short-Term Pass
If sign-up is blocked for you, there's a route Seoul City officially recommends: the Climate Card short-term pass (1, 2, 3, 5, and 7-day passes, 5,000–20,000 won), which isn't tied to Modu Card. The 30-day Climate Card ends operations on October 1, 2026 — the prepaid version can be charged for the last time on August 31 and used through September 29, and the postpaid version can be used through September 30 — but the short-term passes keep running after that.
Here's where it parts ways with Modu Card.
- No account and no identity verification. It's a flat-rate pass you buy, charge, and use immediately, so there's no 15-ride requirement and no refund math.
- Coverage is limited to Seoul. The Sinbundang Line, GTX, metropolitan buses, airport buses, subways outside Seoul, and buses licensed in other regions are all excluded — exactly the opposite of Modu Card, which accrues on the Sinbundang Line and GTX too.
- You can't charge it in advance. Usage starts on the day you charge it, so you have to charge it on the day you actually ride.
Seoul City has stated that it introduced the short-term passes for "foreign tourists and short-term domestic visitors," and its guidance is to buy a physical card at the Seoul Tourism Plaza tourist information center, the Myeongdong tourist information center, customer safety offices on subway lines 1–8, or convenience stores near subway stations, then charge it at a machine inside the station (the retailer guidance comes from a press release covering the 1, 2, 3, and 5-day passes, so whether they handle the 7-day pass needs official confirmation).
We've written up where to buy, how to charge, and the refund process in detail in How Foreigners Use the Climate Card. If you'd rather start by comparing which card fits your schedule, see T-money vs WOWPASS vs Climate Card, and if what's worrying you is whether a foreign card can charge it, see Can You Charge a Transit Card With a Foreign Card or Phone?.
What About Trips That Aren't Eligible for Refunds?
Even if Modu Card trims your commuting costs, the cost of a weekend trip to Busan or Gangneung stays exactly the same. KTX, SRT, express intercity buses, and intercity buses all use separately issued tickets, so they're not eligible. In practice, that means you end up splitting things: in-city travel = Modu Card, intercity travel = book separately.
| Service | Alien Registration Number | Coverage | Benefits and features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modu Card | Effectively required | Buses, urban rail, and the Airport Railroad nationwide | 20–53.3% refund with 15+ rides a month |
| Climate Card short-term pass | Not required | Seoul subway and city buses | Flat rate for 1–7 days, no advance charging |
| T-money | Not required | In-city transit and small payments across most of Korea | Transfer discounts (no refunds) |
| LACHA | Not required | Intercity travel like KTX and express intercity buses | All-in-one booking, overseas easy payments |
The sticking point is the intercity booking step. Korail's English site and the express intercity bus booking services can be used with a passport and a foreign card, but people do get rejected at the 3D Secure step for foreign cards or at the field asking for a Korean phone number — which is especially inconvenient during the months you're waiting on your ARC. LACHA (라차) is a transit and payment super app for foreigners that you can use right away without identity verification: it's designed so that no identity confirmation is required under the official process, and you can book both KTX and express intercity buses in one app using familiar easy payments like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. Can I sign up for Modu Card without an Alien Registration Card (ARC)? The official eligibility page says "Foreigners are OK too!", but the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has said of K-Pass that sign-up is available only to foreigners who have an Alien Registration Number (quoted from a 2024 press Q&A). All four identity verification methods on the sign-up screen are also based on Korean financial or telecom real-name verification. If you're staying 90 days or less you won't have an Alien Registration Number, so a Climate Card short-term pass is the realistic choice. Check the current operating standard with the Modu Card call center (031-427-4415).
Q2. Do refunds happen automatically once I get the card? No. Getting the card and creating an account are two separate things. Even with the card in hand, no refund is generated at all unless you complete sign-up at korea-pass.kr (card validity check → terms agreement → identity verification → address verification → member information entry).
Q3. Are KTX and airport buses eligible for refunds? No. Transit you board with a separately issued ticket is excluded — that covers intercity buses, express intercity buses, airport buses, KTX, and SRT. It's easy to mix up, but the Airport Railroad is eligible while airport buses are not. Buses, urban rail, metropolitan rail (including the Sinbundang Line and GTX), and the Airport Railroad are the eligible categories.
Q4. If I don't have a Korean bank account, can I still get the refund? With postpaid credit and check cards, the refund is deposited to your payment account or deducted from your bill. Prepaid types like mobile T-money (T-mileage), KakaoPay (coupon box), NaverPay (balance top-up), and Korail Rail+ (coupon box) pay out as points or coupons instead. That said, there's no official statement that you can sign up without an account, and it hasn't been confirmed whether the prepaid apps accept sign-up with an Alien Registration Number. Asking the card issuer before you apply is the sure way to know.
Q5. The sign-up screens are Korean-only — is there any way to view them in English? Not at the moment. The official "K-Pass" iOS app lists Korean as its only supported language, and the official site korea-pass.kr has no language switcher either. There's also no official guidance on whether the call center or the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (054-459-7441/7442/7446) offers support in other languages, so it's better to go through it with a Korean-speaking friend or a translation tool.
Last updated August 2026. The refund rates, threshold amounts, off-peak windows, short-term pass prices, and implementation dates in this article are current as of August 2026; the temporary policy (2026-04-01 – 09-30) and regional benefits may change afterward. Whether a foreigner can sign up, which identity verification methods work, and each issuer's card requirements all depend on your individual visa status, so before you actually apply, please confirm with official channels such as the Modu Card official site (korea-pass.kr), the call center (031-427-4415), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Transport Commission (044-201-5084), and Seoul City's Climate Card guidance.
