[Lifehacks] Getting around Korea with a few taps on your screen

K-campus

Published: 17 Mar. 2022, 18:53 Updated: 03 Mar. 2023, 17:32

[Lifehacks] Getting around Korea with a few taps on your screen

A taxi on the streets of Seoul [NEWS1]

Getting around in Seoul is generally pretty convenient. Bus stops and subway stations are easy to spot on any well traveled street, and there are often plenty of taxis out and about looking for passengers.

To utilize all or any of these transportation options to get to your destinations, the best and easiest thing you can do is download a Korean navigation app: Naver Map and KakaoMap are some of the most widely used these days. Through these, you can get most any information on how to get to anywhere in Korea, be it by walking, bus, subway, car or taxi.

Can’t I just use Google Maps?

Google Maps doesn’t work well in Korea, since Google doesn't have all the detailed information on Korean public transport or locations. What does work well in Korea are the local map apps. Both maps mentioned earlier are by two major companies in Korea called Naver and Kakao, and both are available in English. Whatever you would normally search for in other countries by Google, you would search on Naver or Kakao in Korea.

Naver Map shows how to get to Coex from the Seoul Metropolitan Government using public transportation, or by walking, driving or bicycle. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

How do these maps work?

The service these local maps provide is quite similar to what you would get from Google Maps elsewhere. When you open the application with your location settings turned on, it shows where you are. You can look up the address or name of a place you want to go, and the search result will give multiple options to get there using public transportation, or by walking or driving.

For example, if you are starting from the Seoul Metropolitan Government in central Seoul and you need to get to Coex in southern Seoul, you can input your starting location and destination into the two corresponding spaces. Right below where you enter your destination, you can choose to view either the routes for car, public transportation, bicycle or by walking.

For public transportation, you can go a step further and choose whether you want to view only bus or subway routes, or a mix of both. The bicycle option would direct you onto bicycle lanes whenever they are available on the way to your destination. The car option also gives you the estimated fare for if you take a taxi, but the option to call a cap is not offered on these map applications; separate taxi applications are available to call a cab.

Possible hiccups

Naver Map offers its service in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese, and KakaoMap in Korean and English. Of course you can type in the names of places you want to visit, but results may occasionally get mixed up.

For example, if you search "Seoul National University," looking for the Gwanak District location, sometimes the first thing Naver Map shows is "Seoul National University of Science & Technology" in Nowon District — a completely different school in a different area. Again, when some people search for "Seoul Metropolitan Government," the office of the city government in Seoul City Hall, on KakaoMap, it gives you the government’s printing and information industry cooperative, close to Dongdaemun History and Culture Park. Yet when you search for "Seoul City Hall," most will get the right location. Be aware of such possibilities of getting a different result, especially when searching in other languages, and make sure to double check the location by checking the address or looking at the actual map, if you are somewhat familiar already with the rough location of your destination.

If you're totally new to the area, don’t know anything about where things would be and you don’t know any Korean, the safest bet may be to just get the full address of the destination in English and Korean in advance, instead of relying on the name of the location, according to one official at Naver Map. Assuming the address is written correctly, the map should give you the right options to get there.

What about taxi apps?

Calling a taxi from the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Kakao T [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In Seoul, Korea's capital city that never sleeps, taxis are never difficult to find — wherever you are, whenever you need it. Even just a few years ago, you would have to be out on the street waving for a driver to stop in front of you, but nowadays most people just call taxis on their smartphones to come pick them up where they are.

Kakao plays another big role here: Kakao T, operated by the mobility subsidiary Kakao Mobility, works similarly to Uber or Grab, and lets you call a taxi through the app and automatically pays the fare when your ride ends with the payment information you provide in the app.

Although Kakao T is the best known, some other available services include UT, Tada, i.M, Macaron M, Papa, and Banban Taxi. According to mobile data analysis company Mobile Index Insight in January, based on the data from Dec. 20 to 26 last year, Kakao T accounts for almost 95 percent of all taxi rides on weekdays. UT, by local navigation service TMap Mobility, which is a subsidiary of local telecommunication company SK Telecom, is the second largest with a market share of 3.79 percent, followed by Tada. The Uber app will automatically work as the UT app in Korea. In the case of a few failed attempts to get an available taxi on Kakao T, some locals will then turn to other mobility apps to try to snag one. Many people have the top three taxi apps, Kakao T, UT and Tada, on their phone.

How do you use it?

Enter your location and desired destination in one of the taxi apps, available to download from an application store, to get a ride. Drivers with a special taxi license will come pick you up. Anyone not registered as a cab driver cannot get paid for offering a ride, according to local law.

Using the same example from above, getting from the Seoul Metropolitan Government to Coex (a distance of about 14 kilometers or 9 miles) at around 11 a.m. on March 16, is expected to take about 31 minutes. Cost estimates are about 14,300 won ($12) on Kakao T, somewhere between 13,600 won and 17,200 won on UT, and 15,400 won on Tada for the most basic option.

Premium rides or rides with bigger cars will be more expensive. The premium black taxis usually cost two to three times more than the most basic option.

Tada's van service is called Next. [YONHAP]

Kakao T’s Venti and Tada’s Next offers service with vans for those trying to move the large group of people. Venti sits up to 11 passengers and Next offers seven or more seats. For the Seoul Metropolitan Government to Coex example, Venti costs 24,400 won while Next costs 19,300 won. While Tada's basic options tend to cost more, its premium or bigger car services are a bit more affordable.

Student life can be tough. Balancing academic study with growing responsibilities and an all-important social life can be difficult at the best of times, but add another country with a new language and culture into the mix and things can start to get complicated.

[Lifehacks] offers information and advice on building a life in Korea, both in and outside school. From navigating administrative issues to embracing cultural quirks, the Korea JoongAng Daily aims to make life a little bit easier for the more than 150,000 international students that call Korea home.

[Lifehacks] is part of the Korea JoongAng Daily’s K-Campus coverage for current and potential students in Korea and written with support and insight from our dedicated student reporters.

BY SUMMER LEE [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]