Bus

Gwangju has three main bus color codes: red, yellow and green. The red buses are the fastest buses and stop at the three most popular districts, Dong-gu (Downtown area of Gwangju), Seo-gu (West District, Sangmu residential area) and Gwangsan-gu (Gwangsan District and Cheomdan area). The yellow and green buses travel throughout Gwangju and have longer bus routes than the red buses. Most bus stops in Gwangju have an electronic display board informing when the next bus arrives.

Currently, all bus stop announcements are made in Korean. Only bus #1000 with a route covering  Gwangju City Hall, the Gwangju International Airport, U-Square – Express Bus Terminal, and downtown provides announcements in both English and Korean. The Gwangju Bus Information website is only available in Korean at bus.gjcity.net. To assist international visitors in getting around Gwangju by bus, this guidebook provides several maps at the back of the book with the popular bus routes and bus stops in English.

Survival Korean for getting around.

A list of bus stops by bus number: Gwangju Bus Transfer Information

For more information on the bus time schedule, please click on http://bus.gjcity.net (Korean only)

There is also a Gwangju Bus application available for free for smart phones. 광주버스 is the app’s name.

Bus Fares

Purchasing a Transit Card

1. Eligibility for purchase:

• Adults, youths and children can purchase this card to use on the bus, subway, shuttle bus and in other areas of Korea  (except Seoul) using the MYbⓘ  card.
• College students are offered a discount when they use this card to take the subway.
• Middle and High school students must present their student ID card.
• Children must present a health insurance card and a certificate of residence when they puchase this card at authorized places, such as newsstands, supermarkets and subway stations.

2. Several tips when using your transit card:

• Either transferring between buses or between the bus and the subway is free of charge when the transfer is within one hour from the initial touch of your transit card at the fare collector on the bus or in the subway stations (not available for identical bus number transfers) and only the cardholder is entitled to these benefits.
• Passengers must touch their cards to the electronic sensor when getting on a bus. If you are transfering, the card must be used again when getting on another bus or subway.
• Please note that you have to touch your card when you exit from the subway station.
• When riding an airport bus or rural community bus, free bus transfers are not applicable.

3. Costs for card purchases:

• A mini card costs 4,000 won while an accessory card costs 6,000 won.
• Refill amounts range from 5,000 won (min.) – 500,000 won (max.)
• Card refill is available at any authorized Bitgoeul card refill stations such as newsstands, supermarkets and subway stations.
• For more information please contact MYbⓘ Card: Tel. 062-369-5053. Or check out there website in English; you can use your card for buses, subways, taxis, parking lots and toll roads.