The Subway

Seoul has a marvelous subway system, easy to navigate, clean, safe, fast, and cheap. I can't say enough good things about it. Rides anywhere in the central section of the city are 900 won (a bit less than $1). Once we figured out how to check the map of the area above the station for the number of the exit nearest our destination, we were in business.
The sinage was excellent, everything was marked with easy graphics, very easy to follow. The platforms had triangles showing you where to stand, which door on which car would stop there, and whether it had easy wheelchair or handicapped access. Stops were announced in both Korean and English, some of the cars had electronic signs in both languages announcing the stops as well as which side of the train the station would be on. The stations had big, clear signs with the station name, also the name of the next and previous stations, and lots of directions for transferring to another line if there was one at that station. Elevators and restrooms were easy to find. Many of the stations were attached to underground malls with small shops selling a wide variety of items.

The stations and trains themselves were very clean. We saw almost no grafetti, no tagging, no etched windows, no evidence of vandalism. I saw one sign in the entire time we were there which had been tagged, Joe says he saw 2. And we spent a LOT of time riding the subways. Many of the cars had upholstered seating, it was all in good condition. The cars all had small plaques in the front indicating their vintage, we saw plenty that were 20+ years old and they looked like new. We marvelled at how nice this subway system is. The (10 million) residents of Seoul are both fortuneate, and to be commended.


Waiting for the train.