Two South Korean subway lines will soon allow riders to try a “tagless” fare payment system that lets them pay for their tickets by going past a ticketing gate rather than needing to touch their transit card or smartphone on a contactless scanner.  tagless fare payments

The system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology and mobile sensor devices to detect a passenger’s smartphone when they pass through a subway gate and automatically charges the fare to a payment card stored on the passenger’s mobile device.

“If you install the T-Money Pay app equipped with a tagless payment function on your smartphone, payment is automatically made when you pass through the subway gate,” says T-Money, the payment services provider that developed the system. T-money tagless payment is very convenient because you can pay even if you put your mobile phone in your bag or pocket.

“Even if you have luggage or an umbrella, you can easily pass by, children and the elderly who have difficulty in operating machinery can easily use it, and even those in transportation, such as wheelchairs, can move without any action for payment.”

The pilot service is due to launch on the Ui-Sinseol light rapid transit line in Seoul and on Subway Line 2 in Incheon later this month.

Gyeonggi-do province in South Korea’s bus services started testing tagless fare payments in June 2021 before launching the service formally in March of this year.  tagless fare payments