Seoul launches English subway app
Foreign subway riders in Seoul will likely benefit from Seoul Subway, the city's new smartphone app that helps navigate throughout the metro system across the city and rest of the country's capital region. Gettyimagesbank
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has released a new smartphone app dedicated to guiding tourists and visitors to the city through the city's underground public transportation system ― the complexity of which might daunt some new users.
Available on Google Play and App Store as of Thursday, the Seoul Subway app is the city's official English-based subway navigator. The app navigates through the web of 23 metro lines across the country's capital region of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, and also shows tourist hotpots near certain stations.
There has been no Korean smartphone apps available that serve this purpose for foreign users, according to Kim Jeong-man, chief of the Information Management Center under Seoul Metro, the city's subsidiary company operating Seoul Metro lines 1 to 8. “The app will be a great help for foreign newcomers to the city and we'll keep updating it with comments and opinions from the app users.”
The app automatically searches for the user's real-time location. When the user selects a destination, the app automatically sets the user's real-time location as the starting point and suggests the best routes. If the destination is an aboveground place, the app can determine which subway station is best.
Seoul Subway shows train information, step-by-step navigation for each route and real-time information on when the next train arrives at the user's real-time location. Courtesy of Seoul Metro
The user can touch a transfer station on a route suggested by the app to see how much time is left until the next train arrives on the line the user needs to transfer to.
The real-time location searching feature can also inform the user which direction to head when standing on the metro platform to stop the user from taking the wrong train. The app will notify the user if they get on a train heading in the wrong direction.
If the user clicks on an incoming train in the app, they can see how crowded each subway car is.
Another feature of the app is detailed navigation through certain subway stations. Limited to 14 stations most frequented by foreign users in the city, the app can offer a route to a washroom inside the station or to a certain exit. The stations include Gunja Station on lines 5 and 7, Hongik University on Line 2, the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and the Airport Railroad Express, Myeong-dong Station and Hoehyeon Station on Line 4, Anguk Station on Line 3, Itaewon Station on Line 6, Dongdaemun History and Culture Park on lines 4 and 5, Jamsil Station on lines 2 and 8, Samseong Station and Euljiro 1-ga on Line 2.
“The 14 stations were top destinations sought by foreigners we have found from statistical data,” Choi Gi-seob from Seoul Metro's Information Management Center told The Korea Times. “We are going to expand that list.”
The app also offers a map of 30 top tourist destinations in the city and transit routes showing how to get there.