Upass () was a prepaid card for the transportation system in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and its suburbs. The card was issued by Seoul Bus Transport Association and eB Card. Its parent-generation card is Seoul Transportation Card, a world-first commercial-used RF card for transportation (first used in June 199
¹
The Korean system integrator Intec and Seoul Bus Union first launched a test of their system in a trial from October to December 1995.Showcases – Seoul: World's largest contactless Smart Card installation in full operation in Kore

/ref> Currently, Upass has been discontinued, replaced by the newer T-money card. Existing cards still can be used in T-money areas.

Technology

Upass, and older Seoul transportation card system is based on

MIFARE MIFARE is a series of integrated circuit (IC) chips used in contactless smart cards and proximity cards. The brand includes proprietary solutions based on various levels of the ISO/IEC 14443 Type-A 13.56 MHz contactless smart card standard ...

Standard, Ultralight and PROX technology.

Use

Before its discontinuation in October 2014, many kiosks around Seoul sold various types of Upass cards. Major banks and credit card companies, including favored

Kookmin Bank Kookmin Bank (), also known as KB Kookmin Bank, is a bank headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the largest bank in Korea and the 60th largest in the world as of 2017. The name Kookmin Bank is a contraction of Citizens National Bank, an Eng ...

and

BC Card BC Card () is a South Korean financial services company headquartered in Seoul. South Korea's largest payment processing company, it provides end-to-end payment services, primarily to financial institutions, as well as to local merchants through ...

, issued Upass compatible credit/debit cards marked with PayOn, MasterCard, Paypass or

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

Paywave Visa Inc. () is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit c ...

. Upass is accepted by: * All

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous administrative divisions of South Korea, province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a list of provinc ...

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

Cheonan Cheonan (; ) is the largest and most densely populated city of South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and the third largest city in the Hoseo region after Daejeon and Cheongju. Cheonan borders Gyeonggi Province ( Pyeongtaek and Anseong) i ...

Asan Asan (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It borders the Seoul Capital Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 400,000. Asan is known for its many hot springs an ...

buses *

Seoul Subway The Seoul Metropolitan Subway () is a urban rail transit, metropolitan railway system consisting of 23 rapid transit, Medium-capacity rail transport system, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. T ...

and

AREX AREX (Airport Railroad Express; ) is an airport rail link and commuter rail line in the Seoul Metropolitan Area of South Korea, linking Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport with Seoul Station. The section between the ...

intercity buses which accept payment via transportation cards.

Notes

External links

Seoul Bus Transport Association
(Redirects to T-money) {{Public transport in the Seoul Metropolitan Area Contactless smart cards Fare collection systems in South Korea Transport in Seoul Financial services companies of South Korea