Seoul's Climate Card Ends 30 September — What Replaces It, and Which Pass a Visitor Should Actually Buy (2026)

If you have been reading Seoul travel guides written before this summer, you have probably seen the Climate Card recommended as the no-brainer transport deal: pay one flat monthly fee, ride the subway and buses as much as you like. That advice is about to expire. The Climate Card is being shut down on 30 September 2026 and replaced on 1 September by something called the Climate Pass (Modu Card) — which, despite the near-identical name, is not a flat-fare pass at all. Here is what actually changes, cross-checked against the Seoul Metropolitan Government's official announcements and Korea's national policy briefing service, and — the part most guides will get wrong — which of these two things a visitor should actually buy, as of 25 August 2026.

Image: Seoul Metropolitan Government media hub article, 12 August 2026

1. Short answer for visitors: the pass you want is the one nobody is talking about

Let's put the conclusion first, because it is the opposite of what the headlines suggest.

The new Climate Pass is a rebate scheme, not a travel pass. You pay every fare in full, and the government refunds part of it the following month — and only if you took at least 15 rides that month. For anyone in Seoul for a week, that is worth exactly nothing: you will be home before the refund is calculated, and you probably will not hit 15 rides anyway.

The good news is buried in the same announcement. The Climate Card's short-term passes are not being discontinued. All five of them — 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, 5-day and 7-day — continue exactly as before. They cover travel within Seoul city limits only, and for a short trip they remain the straightforward option. So:

• Visiting for a few days? Buy a Climate Card short-term pass. Nothing changes for you.
• Living in Seoul, or staying for months? The rebate-based Climate Pass is the one that applies to you — read on, because the registration step below decides whether you get any money back at all.

If you want the full timeline of what shuts down when, we covered the closure dates separately in our guide to the Climate Card's shutdown.

The three dates that matter

Date	What happens
31 August	Last day you can top up a prepaid 30-day Climate Card. Note that a top-up made on this date cannot have a deferred start date — it begins immediately.
1 September	Climate Pass (Modu Card) launches, with Seoul-specific perks layered on top of the nationwide card.
29 / 30 September	Prepaid cards work through 29 September; post-paid (credit-linked) cards through 30 September. From 1 October both are retired.

Seoul Metropolitan Government "Climate Card service termination FAQ" and 30 July 2026 press release, checked 25 August 2026.

The one-day gap between prepaid and post-paid is genuinely easy to miss — several Korean outlets have flattened both into "30 September." If you are on a prepaid card, your last usable day is the 29th.

Seoul's stated reason for shutting the card down is not financial. The national government's Modu Card launched at effectively the same price point, which meant two near-identical programmes running side by side and confusing residents; the city says it is consolidating them into one.

The "unlimited monthly pass" era ends on 30 September. (Image: Seoul Metropolitan Government official Climate Card information page)

2. About that "30,000 won unlimited" claim going around

Two things are wrong with it, and both matter if you are budgeting a longer stay.

First, 30,000 won (roughly US$22) is a discounted rate with an expiry date. In response to high fuel prices, the government halved the fixed-rate threshold for six months, from April through September 2026. The normal figure for a standard adult in the greater Seoul area is 62,000 won (about US$45); the 30,000 won everyone is quoting is that number cut in half. The discount is scheduled to end with 30 September travel, and as of 25 August 2026 no extension has been announced. Do not assume October will look like September.

Second, it was never "unlimited" in the way the old card was. The two products work in opposite directions:

• Climate Card (ending) — you paid 62,000 won up front (3,000 won more to include Ttareungi, the city bike share) and then rode Seoul's subway, buses, bikes and Han River ferry without paying again. A prepaid season ticket.
• Climate Pass / Modu Card (new) — you pay every fare normally, then get money back the next month as a refund or a credit-card billing discount. A post-hoc rebate.

Practically, that means you now float a full month of transport costs yourself before seeing anything back. And the exact payout date varies by card issuer, so no fixed schedule can be quoted.

3. How much comes back — and why you don't have to choose a plan

A common question in Korean forums is which rebate type to sign up for. The answer is that you don't: the system automatically calculates both the percentage-based and the threshold-based method each month and applies whichever leaves you better off. There is no plan selection screen.

Percentage-based rebate

• Standard 20% / youth, two-child households and seniors 30% / three or more children 50% / low-income 53.3%.
• Travel during the off-peak commuting windows — 5:30–6:30am, 9–10am, 4–5pm and 7–8pm — earns a higher rate. Per Korea's policy briefing service, that reaches 50% standard, 60% youth, 80% for three-or-more-child households and 83.3% for low-income riders.
• A "senior" category (65 and over) is new for 2026, at 30% instead of the standard 20%. Seniors already ride the subway free, so this mainly shows up on bus fares.

Threshold-based rebate

You cover fares up to a monthly threshold; everything above it comes back at 100%. Greater Seoul figures:

Category	Standard type (normal / discounted)	Plus type (normal / discounted)
Standard	62,000 / 30,000 won (≈$45 / $22)	100,000 / 50,000 won (≈$73 / $36)
Youth / two children / senior	55,000 / 25,000 won (≈$40 / $18)	90,000 / 45,000 won (≈$66 / $33)
Three+ children / low income	45,000 / 22,000 won (≈$33 / $16)	80,000 / 40,000 won (≈$58 / $29)

Source: Korea policy briefing. Discounted figures apply to April–September 2026 travel only. Dollar values are rough conversions for orientation, not exact rates.

And here is the rule almost nobody explains. The "standard type" threshold only applies to journeys whose total fare — transfers included — comes to under 3,000 won (about $2.20). If you commute on a red express bus or the GTX, where a single trip costs more than that, you fall into the "plus type" band instead, with its far higher threshold. That completely changes the maths for suburban commuters.

Red express buses push you out of the "standard" band and into "plus". (Image: Korea policy briefing article, 17 April 2026)

What counts, and what doesn't

The scheme covers anything you tap a transit card for: city and neighbourhood buses, the subway, express buses, the GTX, the Shinbundang Line and the Airport Railroad. It does not cover services that issue a separate ticket — KTX, SRT, intercity and long-distance coaches — or taxis. So a month with a lot of intercity travel can look expensive and still return very little.

4. Seoul-only perks, including a youth bracket that now runs to 39

The Climate Pass is the national Modu Card plus a Seoul layer. The headline addition is the age band.

• The youth category widens from 19–34 to 19–39, meaning Seoul residents aged 35–39 now qualify for the 30% rate. If you are a long-term resident in that age range, this is the single biggest change for you.
• Ttareungi, the city bike share, stays discounted at 3,000 won (about $2.20) when you enter your card number.
• Discounts at Seoul cultural and leisure venues including Seoul Moon, Seoul Botanic Park and Seoul Grand Park are included — though the city has not published the actual discount rates or start dates for individual venues, so treat any specific figure you see with suspicion. (Seoul Moon's own prices and hours are in our visitor guide to the Seoul Moon balloon ride.)
• An extended discount age for military veterans (to 42) is described in the city's FAQ as "planned," with no start date given — it is not automatically live on 1 September.
• The Han River ferry is already covered by the Modu Card.

One important qualifier for anyone outside the city: these Seoul perks apply to people registered as Seoul residents. If your address is in Gyeonggi or Incheon — which includes a lot of the greater metropolitan area — you fall under those provinces' own schemes (The Gyeonggi Pass and I-Pass), and the youth-to-39 expansion does not carry over.

5. Practical notes for foreign residents

• Getting the card is not enough — registering it is what triggers the rebate. You must create an account on the K-Pass website or app, complete identity verification, and register your card number. Without that step your trips are not counted and your refund is zero, no matter how much you ride. Expect the verification step to require a Korean phone number and identity credentials, as most Korean government services do.
• You need 15 rides in a calendar month to qualify. The first month after sign-up is exempt from that minimum — so if you are close to a month boundary, registering early in a month works in your favour.
• Ignore the "60 rides a month, 2 per day" cap you'll find in older guides. That was the old K-Pass rule; it was abolished when the Modu Card launched. There is no maximum ride count now.
• Assume Korean-language interfaces. We could not confirm what English support the K-Pass site or app provides, so budget time for it or ask someone to walk through the sign-up with you.
• Already bought a physical Climate Card? The purchase price is not refundable (per Seoul's termination FAQ). Use it until it stops working and then keep it as an ordinary transit card. If yours is post-paid, ask your card issuer directly about the annual fee.
• The Airport Railroad is on the covered list, which is worth knowing if you make repeated Incheon runs. The general principle is that services you tap into are covered and services that issue you a separate ticket are not.

6. The bottom line

For a short visit, nothing you actually need has been taken away: the 1-, 2-, 3-, 5- and 7-day Climate Card passes continue unchanged, and they are still the simplest way to cover a few days of Seoul transport. For long-term residents, the flat monthly pass is gone as of 30 September, replaced by a rebate you have to register for, ride 15 times a month to qualify for, and wait until the following month to receive — with the widely quoted 30,000 won figure being a temporary half-price threshold that currently expires on 30 September 2026.

If you are staying in Seoul beyond this month, do the two-minute version now: get a Modu Card and register the number with K-Pass, so the switch happens automatically on 1 September. Been through the K-Pass sign-up as a foreign resident? Drop a comment and tell us how much of it was available in English — we will fold what you tell us into this guide so the next person has an easier time.

Sources: Seoul Metropolitan Government press release (30 July 2026) and "Climate Card service termination FAQ"; Seoul media hub articles (30 July and 12 August 2026); Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport press release; Korea policy briefing (17 March and 17 April 2026 among others). All details are current as of 25 August 2026 and may change as the programme rolls out. Won-to-dollar figures are rough conversions for orientation only. Please confirm rebate rates and thresholds against the issuing agencies' latest notices.