On November 1, the Seoul Transportation Corporation announced a new penalty for subway passengers in the Seoul metropolitan area who fail to tag their transportation cards when exiting stations. Starting from the first train on the 7th, any adult who does not tag their card will face an extra fee of 1550 won on their next ride. This system aims not only to ensure accurate fare collection based on the distance traveled but also to prevent passengers from deliberately avoiding fees by not tagging their cards when exiting. Previously, there were no penalties for not tagging cards upon exit, although a lack of tagging meant that passengers could not receive transfer discounts when switching to buses or other transport systems.

The initiative is a response to the increase in incidents where passengers would exit without tagging their transportation cards, with an analysis revealing an average of around 8,000 cases of non-tagging each day on Seoul's subway lines from January to November last year. This non-tagging is found to be more common when passengers only use the subway compared to when they switch to other modes of transport. By implementing this new rule, the transit authority hopes to accurately track passengers' travel routes and streamline fare calculations among the 13 different entities managing the metropolitan area’s subway services.

As part of the new system, if a passenger does not tag their card upon exiting, the basic fare will automatically be charged when they attempt to board the subway again using the same card. This policy applies to all users of pre-paid and post-paid transportation cards across the entire metropolitan subway network, in an effort to maintain fair usage and accountability among riders.