Seoul ranked fifth among cities worldwide for public transport in a survey by British city and travel magazine Time Out, with 91.1 percent of respondents in the capital rating its system positively.
The city rose three places from eighth last year, when 84 percent of respondents positively rated its public transport, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said. Taipei, Taiwan, ranked first, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Time Out surveyed more than 24,000 people worldwide, asking them to rate public transport in their own cities on a five-point scale.
Its Seoul entry praised the subway’s cleanliness, underground phone service and fares starting at 1,550 won ($1.15) with a transit card.
CNN also featured Seoul on Saturday in an article on 18 metro systems around the world. The article cited the system’s cleanliness, efficiency and safety, as well as mobile connectivity underground.
Platform safety screen doors were installed at all 262 stations on Seoul Subway Lines Nos. 1 through 8 by 2009. In 2025, the city completed elevator routes from street level to platforms at all 338 subway stations it manages, after an 18-year project costing 175 billion won.
Seoul Metro carried an average of 6.69 million passengers a day on Lines 1 through 8 in 2025, up 1.3 percent from the previous year.
In September, Seoul launched the Climate Pass, which applies the national government’s public transportation fare-refund program to Seoul residents and adds city benefits, including youth discounts.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com