Commuters in South Korea will soon be able to pay fares using Apple Pay

More than two years after landing in South Korea, Apple Pay is about to fill one of its biggest gaps in the country: public transportation support. However, the win might be short-lived. Here’s why.

Terminal updates and transaction fees to blame for the holdout

Transit card provider Tmoney confirmed Monday that its system will soon work with both iPhones and Apple Watches. Once live, users will be able to tap to pay for subway and bus rides across the country.

As observed by Korea JoongAng Daily (via Reddit), there’s no official launch date just yet, but the announcement marks a long-awaited milestone for Apple Pay adoption in the region.

Apple Pay arrived in South Korea just two years ago, nearly a decade after Samsung Pay added support for public transit back in 2015. That left iPhone users at a disadvantage for everyday commuting, especially in a country where mobile-based tap-to-pay transit is considered a baseline expectation.

Behind the scenes, the delay was partly due to infrastructure and cost issues. Tmoney and other transit operators said they needed to upgrade to EMV contactless terminals, which Apple Pay requires, and were also concerned about the transaction fees that come with supporting the platform.

Next stop: No tapping (and no Apple Pay) at all

Today’s Apple Pay news might be short-lived, though, as Tmoney also announced a pilot program coming to Seoul city buses later this year that takes the whole idea of tapping out of the equation.

Starting in October, around 580 buses on 36 routes will begin testing a tagless payment system. Instead of tapping a card or device, riders who’ve installed the Tmoney app and enabled Bluetooth on their phones will have their fares automatically processed as they board and exit.

For now, the bigger news for Apple users is simple: transit payments in Korea will soon be here.