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Busan Metropolitan City to Launch Zeropay Mobile QR Payment for Bus Fares for Foreign Tourists

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Chun Jae-soo) announced that it will launch the “Zeropay QR Easy Payment Service” on city buses starting September 21 to make public transportation more convenient for foreign tourists visiting Busan.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Busan has recently risen sharply. The number of foreign visitors to Busan this year is expected to exceed 4 million, with tourists from Asian markets, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, projected to account for more than 60 percent of the total.

In particular, mobile-based payment services such as Alipay and WeChat Pay have become widely used payment methods, especially in China. There have therefore been continued calls to allow foreign tourists to use the mobile payment services they normally use for public transportation while in Busan.

In response, Busan Metropolitan City is introducing a mobile-based easy payment service so that foreign tourists can use city buses more conveniently without having to purchase a separate transportation card or exchange money for Korean won in advance.

The new service allows passengers to pay fares using Zeropay QR codes posted inside buses, without the need to establish a separate bus payment system.

The service uses Zeropay’s global payment network operated by the Korea Easy Payment Foundation. Passengers can continue using their existing affiliated payment apps without installing a separate app or purchasing a transportation card.

The payment process is simple. After boarding a city bus, passengers can complete payment through automatic currency conversion by following three steps: ① open their payment app, ② scan the QR code inside the bus, and ③ select the payment button. They then show the completed payment screen to the bus driver.

A flat fare of KRW 1,700 per person, equivalent to the standard adult cash fare, applies. When several people are traveling together, a separate payment must be made for each passenger. Because QR easy payment is intended as an alternative to cash, transfer discounts available with regular transportation cards do not apply. The same KRW 1,700 fare applies to teenagers and children.

In conjunction with the launch, Busan Metropolitan City plans to attach QR codes and multilingual instruction stickers to all city buses and actively provide information on how to use the service, particularly at bus stops near major tourist attractions and at tourist information centers.

Information notices and promotional materials will also be placed at major gateways such as Busan Station and Busan Port, as well as at bus stops near tourist attractions and tourist information centers, so that foreign visitors can easily learn about and use the service immediately after arriving in Busan.

Busan Metropolitan City will also work with global payment providers such as Alipay and Tencent, which operates WeChat Pay, to promote the service to overseas users.

In addition, the city will review the service’s operating results and user feedback and continue exploring ways to create a more convenient payment environment, including linking QR payment functionality with new transportation card terminals when they are introduced in the future.

Mayor Chun Jae-soo said, “The introduction of Zeropay easy payment will allow foreign tourists to use Busan city buses more conveniently without the inconvenience of purchasing a transportation card or exchanging currency.”

He added, “We will continue to expand a range of transportation services so that foreign tourists visiting Busan can use public transportation easily and conveniently.”