Brace before it moves
A bus may move or brake while you are standing. To steady yourself, grab the nearest vertical pole with one hand as soon as you are on board, and do not let go until you are seated or braced. Standing passengers are expected to hold on continuously, not just when it feels bumpy.
Drivers also have legal duties when passengers board and leave. Article 26(1) of the Passenger Transport Service Act (여객자동차 운수사업법 제26조), administered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부), lists things a driver is forbidden to do, and two of them are exactly this. Subparagraph 5 bans moving off with the doors not fully closed. Subparagraph 6 bans "starting the vehicle before passengers have boarded or alighted", and in the same breath bans driving straight past a stop where somebody is waiting. Breaching either carries a fine of ₩100,000 on the driver under the fine schedule in Appendix 6 of the Enforcement Decree.
Hold on securely and take the time you need to board or leave safely. The fact that a bus moves while someone is standing does not alone establish a breach of those rules.
Board at the front and leave at the rear
You board at the front door and leave by the rear door. Both doors have a card reader and you tap at both. Tapping off is not optional courtesy; Korean bus fares are distance-based when you transfer, and failing to tap off costs you money on the next journey. The fare mechanics, the route numbering and the colour system are a subject of their own — see “City buses and what the colours mean”.
A rear-door sensor may prevent the door from opening if you stand too close to it. Stay clear until the door opens, then step off carefully. And on Seoul's median bus lanes (중앙버스전용차로), the stop is an island in the middle of the road: you cross to it at a signalled crossing, and the buses arrive on your left, not your right.
Press the bell early
The stop bell (하차벨) is on the handrails and beside the priority seats, and a Korean passenger presses it as the bus leaves the stop before the one they want. Press it late and the driver may already be committed to the outside lane and will carry you on. If nobody has pressed the bell and nobody is waiting at the stop, the bus does not stop at all — which is the other half of subparagraph 6 above.
Move toward the rear door only when you can do so safely, holding a rail if standing. If you need the bus to stop before moving, tell the driver and take your time.
Keep priority seats available for passengers who need them
Every Korean city bus carries seats marked for elderly, disabled, pregnant and injured passengers. That much is law: Appendix 1 of the Enforcement Rule of the Act on Promotion of Transportation Convenience of Mobility Disadvantaged Persons (교통약자의 이동편의 증진법 시행규칙) requires that at least one third of a city bus's seats be designated priority seats for mobility-disadvantaged passengers (교통약자용 좌석), placed near the doors where they are easy to reach, each with a sign beside it, and with a stop button reachable from the seat.
What the law does not do is oblige you to get up. There is no offence, no fine and no enforcement. The rule that operates is social, and it operates hard: a visitor sitting in a marked seat while an older passenger stands will draw looks and sometimes a direct word. Keep marked seats available for passengers who need them. Do not assume someone is ineligible because their disability or pregnancy is not visible.
The same regulation is the reason there is always something to hold: vertical grab poles are required every two or four rows, at a diameter of about 30 mm.
Food, drink and noise
Seoul has a specific rule about carrying food and drinks on city buses. Under Article 11(6) of Seoul's city-bus ordinance (서울특별시 시내버스 재정지원 및 안전 운행기준에 관한 조례), added on 4 January 2018, a Seoul bus driver may refuse to carry a passenger holding a disposable cup of food or drink — the ordinance names the takeaway cup ("테이크아웃 컵") explicitly — or any other item that is dirty or smells. A later addition, from March 2021, extends the same power to anything affecting hygiene on board, and lets the driver put an already-boarded passenger off.
Finish open drinks and food before boarding a Seoul bus. Elsewhere, follow the operator’s posted rules and the driver’s instructions.
Phone calls are tolerated but conducted quietly and briefly; speakerphone and video without headphones are not. Use headphones and keep calls quiet so other passengers are not disturbed.
Wait safely and follow the boarding queue
At an ordinary kerbside stop with one or two routes, people cluster rather than queue and board more or less in order of arrival. At a busy interchange, a median-lane island, or an intercity terminal, a genuine queue forms and jumping it is noticed. Median-lane stops usually have the route numbers painted on the ground at the point where that bus's doors will open, and the queue forms behind the number.
One thing to do rather than assume: at a stop served by many routes, put your hand out as your bus approaches. A driver who sees nobody signalling and nobody at the door may not pull in.
A little perspective
Buses are not where visitors come unstuck. Of the 1,595 tourist complaints the Korea Tourism Organization (한국관광공사) logged in 2024, 41 concerned buses. Taxis accounted for 309 — seven times as many. These practices help passengers share the bus safely and considerately.
