Booking a bus ticket with the TmoneyGO app

TmoneyGO (티머니GO) is the app that sells the express and intercity bus tickets used in this guide — including the airport buses from Daejeon to Incheon Airport (ICN) and from Yuseong to Cheongju Airport (CJJ). Buying in the app is the most reliable way to secure a seat, because the early-morning airport buses are often sold out on the day of travel.

This page is written for a foreigner who holds a Korean credit or check (debit) card. The app has no English interface, so every screen below is annotated: the red box shows what to tap, and the Korean words you need are spelled out.

The app registers only cards issued in Korea and in your own name. A card issued outside Korea will not register, and some Korean cards are blocked by their issuer. If you do not have a Korean card, ask your host at IBS to buy the ticket for you and send you the QR-code ticket, or buy your ticket at the machine in the bus stop.

You need to install TmoneyGO (iOS · Android) and sign in before you start. Signing up requires a Korean mobile phone number for the identity check, so do this while you still have your Korean SIM.

• The Korean words you will need
• Step 1 — Open the app and choose 공항버스 (Airport bus)
• Step 2 — Close the pop-up notice
• Step 3 — Set 출발지, where you get on
• Step 4 — Set 도착지, where you get off
• Step 5 — Pick the date and the earliest hour
• Step 6 — Check the card and tap 버스 조회 (Search buses)
• Step 7 — Dismiss the operator notice
• Step 8 — Choose your departure
• Step 9 — Pick your seat
• Step 10 — Check the reservation and tap 결제하기 (Pay)
• Step 11 — Choose 신용/체크 등록 간편결제 as the payment method
• Step 12 — Register your card
• After paying — finding and reading your ticket
• Changing or cancelling a ticket
• If something goes wrong

The Korean words you will need

Every button in this guide is one of these. You do not have to read Korean — just match the shapes.

공항버스Airport bus

고속·시외Express / intercity bus (for non-airport trips)

출발지Departure point

도착지Destination

가는날Date of travel

편도 / 왕복One way / round trip

버스 조회Search buses

선택완료Done / confirm selection

확인 / 닫기OK / Close

매진Sold out

N석 남음N seats left

일반Adult (the normal fare)

결제하기Pay

신용/체크Credit / check (debit) card

직접입력Type it in manually

예약 현황Reservation status — where your ticket is

승차권저장Save the ticket to your phone

예매변경Change the booking

예매취소Cancel the booking

And these are the stop names you will be looking for in the lists:

대전도룡Daejeon Doryong — the stop closest to IBS

유성복합Yuseong Intercity Bus Terminal

대전복합Daejeon Complex Terminal (next to Daejeon Station)

인천공항T1Incheon Airport Terminal 1

인천공항T2Incheon Airport Terminal 2

청주공항Cheongju Airport

Check which terminal your flight leaves from before you book. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 at Incheon are 15 km apart and the buses go to one or the other.

Step 1 — Open the app and choose 공항버스 (Airport bus)

On the home screen, stay on the first tab 교통 (Transport) and tap 공항버스 — the third icon in the top row, the one with a purple bus.

Going somewhere that is not an airport (Seoul, Busan…)? Tap 고속·시외 instead, the icon to its left. Everything after this step works the same way.

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Tap 공항버스 (Airport bus). The icon to its left, 고속·시외, is for ordinary intercity buses.

Step 2 — Close the pop-up notice

The app opens with an advertisement or a notice. Tap the black 닫기 (Close) button. The white button next to it, 오늘 그만보기, means “don’t show this again today” and works just as well.

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Tap 닫기 (Close). There may be several of these notices — close them all.

Step 3 — Set 출발지, where you get on

Tap 출발지 (Departure point) on the booking card. A list of terminals slides up. The quickest way to find your stop is the region tabs: tap 대전/충남 (Daejeon / South Chungcheong), then scroll the list until the Korean name matches the one you are looking for.

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1 — you can type a terminal name here, but it only accepts Korean. 2 — easier: tap the 대전/충남 region tab.

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The 대전/충남 list. 유성복합 (Yuseong) is highlighted. 대전도룡 (Doryong), the stop nearest IBS, is further down.

The list starts with a TOP 50 block and then repeats everything alphabetically under 가나다. Rather than scrolling, use the grey strip of letters down the right edge — it is a Korean alphabetical index. 대전도룡 and 대전복합 start with ㄷ, so tap that letter and the list jumps straight to them. (유성복합 is under ㅇ.)

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1 — the letter ㄷ in the index strip. 2 — 대전도룡 (Daejeon Doryong), the stop nearest IBS. Tap it.

Do not confuse it with the names just below: 대전복합 is the big terminal by Daejeon Station, and 대전청사 / 대전청사공항(선사유적) are the Government Complex stops. The one nearest IBS is 대전도룡.

Step 4 — Set 도착지, where you get off

Now tap 도착지 (Destination). For the airport bus the list is short, because it only shows airports. Pick 인천공항T1 or 인천공항T2 according to your flight — or 청주공항 for Cheongju.

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1 — 인천공항T1 (Terminal 1). 2 — 인천공항T2 (Terminal 2). Check your boarding pass first.

Step 5 — Pick the date and the earliest hour

Tap 가는날 (Date of travel). Choose the day from the calendar, then choose the earliest departure hour you want to see from the row of chips below — 07시 means “07:00 and later”. Grey chips are hours that have already passed. Finish with the black 선택완료 button.

The airport buses to Incheon start running around 03:00. A bus that leaves at 03:14 leaves on the calendar day of your flight, not the evening before — pick the date carefully, and set the hour chip to 00시 so that the night departures are not hidden.

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1 — tap the date. 2 — the earliest departure hour. 3 — 선택완료 (Done).

Step 6 — Check the card and tap 버스 조회 (Search buses)

You are back on the booking card, now filled in. Confirm that 편도 (One way) is underlined, that the two stop names are the right way round — the ⇄ button swaps them — and that the date is correct. Then tap the black 버스 조회 button.

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대전도룡 → 인천공항T2 on 2026.09.10. Tap 버스 조회 (Search buses).

Step 7 — Dismiss the operator notice

A notice from the bus company appears. Tap 확인 (OK). It is worth knowing what it says: you may bring two pieces of luggage per person, and a third piece can be charged at 50% of an adult fare.

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Tap 확인 (OK).

Step 8 — Choose your departure

Each card is one bus: the operator, the departure time, the journey time (약 2시간 53분 = about 2 h 53 min), and the fare. The tags at the bottom right tell you whether you can still book:

• 매진 — sold out, in red. You cannot take this bus.
• 1석 남음 — 1 seat left. 9석 남음 — 9 seats left.
• 심야우등 / 심야프리미엄 — late-night deluxe / premium class. Fewer, wider seats; premium costs more. Both are comfortable.
• 경유 — this bus makes a stop on the way.

Tap anywhere on a card that is not sold out.

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The 03:04 bus above is 매진 (sold out). The 03:14 bus has 1석 남음 — one seat left — so tap that card.

Step 9 — Pick your seat

The seat map opens. 전체 28석 is the total number of seats and 잔여 N석 is how many are free. Seats marked ✕ are taken; tap a free seat to select it, and tap it again to release it. Tap one seat per traveller.

The chips 일반 / 아동 / 중고생 / 보훈 set the fare type — adult, child, middle or high school student, and veteran. Leave it on 일반 (Adult); the others require Korean ID to prove eligibility.

When your seat turns purple, the total appears at the bottom. Tap the black 선택완료.

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잔여 1 석 — only one seat is free on this bus. Every ✕ seat is already taken.

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1 — keep the fare type on 일반 (Adult). 2 — seat 27 is selected. 3 — 선택완료 (Done).

Step 10 — Check the reservation and tap 결제하기 (Pay)

This screen summarises the journey: date and time, operator and class, 출발 (from), 도착 (to), 좌석 (seat number) and 운임 (fare). Read it once more, then tap 결제하기 (Pay).

결제기한 is your payment deadline — the seat is only held until then. The notice also warns that the reservation is cancelled if you close the app, and that it expires 10 minutes before departure for an intercity bus. Do not leave the app between here and the end of Step 12.

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1 — 결제기한, the deadline to pay. 2 — 결제하기 (Pay).

Step 11 — Choose 신용/체크 등록 간편결제 as the payment method

Scroll past 쿠폰 및 GO마일리지 (coupons and points — leave both alone) down to 결제수단, the payment methods. Ignore Mobile Tmoney, N Pay, toss pay and KB Pay: those need separate Korean accounts. Select the last option, 신용/체크 등록 간편결제 — “pay with a registered credit or check card” — and tap the dashed + box below it to add your card.

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Scroll down to 결제수단 (payment methods).

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1 — select 신용/체크 등록 간편결제. 2 — tap + to register your Korean card.

Step 12 — Register your card

The camera opens to read the card automatically: hold the card inside the yellow frame. If it will not focus — or if your card has no embossed numbers — tap the black 직접입력 button at the bottom and type the details instead. You will be asked for the card number, the expiry date, the first two digits of your card PIN, and your date of birth in YYMMDD form.

The two lines under the frame are the app’s warnings: register a card issued in your own name, and some cards are blocked by their issuer.

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Hold the card in the yellow frame, or tap 직접입력 to type the numbers yourself.

Once the card is registered you return to the payment screen. Tap the black 결제하기 at the bottom one last time, and the purchase is complete.

After paying — finding and reading your ticket

There is no paper ticket. Your ticket lives in the app, on the same booking screen you started from: scroll down to 예약 현황 (Reservation status). The number beside it is how many tickets you are holding. 이용내역, to its right, is your past purchase history.

Tap the card — it shows the route, the date and the number of passengers — to open the ticket itself.

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1 — your ticket, under 예약 현황. Tap the card to open it. 2 — 이용내역, past purchases.

The first time you open a ticket, an illustrated 이용 가이드 (usage guide) pops up over it. It has two pages and shows the one thing that matters: hold your phone’s QR code against the reader just inside the bus door. Tap 확인 to close it — 다시 보지 않기 above the button means “don’t show this again”.

Page 1 — board the bus with your phone ready.

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Page 2 — hold the QR code against the reader. Tap 확인 to close.

Behind the pop-up is the ticket. The big QR code is what the driver’s reader scans; the number under it is your ticket number.

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1 — QR 크게보기 enlarges the QR code. 2 — 승차홈 (platform) and 좌석번호 (seat number). 3 — 승차권저장 saves the ticket to your phone.

Reading the rest of it:

Korean	Meaning
출발 / 도착	From / to. A name in brackets under 도착, such as (대전복합발), is where the bus started its run — not your stop.
출발일 / 시간	Departure date / time
승차홈	Boarding platform. 현장확인 means “check the signs when you get there” — common at small stops.
좌석번호	Your seat number
예상소요시간	Estimated journey time
등급	Class — 우등 (deluxe), 일반 (standard)
운행회사	The bus company, printed on the side of the bus
승차권저장	Save the ticket to your phone
여정 정보	Trip details
실시간 위치	Live bus location — greyed out until close to departure

Tap 승차권저장 (or take a screenshot) before you leave for the bus stop. The stops near IBS have poor mobile reception, and a saved image works even when the app will not load.

Be at the stop 10 minutes early and check the sign on the front of the bus. Buses to Seoul and other cities use the same stops, and the buses leave exactly on the minute printed on your ticket.

Changing or cancelling a ticket

Open the ticket as above and scroll to the bottom. Below the fare and the payment details are two buttons: 예매변경 (change the booking) and 예매취소 (cancel it). 예매변경 reopens the search for the same route so you can move to another departure, subject to free seats; 예매취소 refunds the ticket, minus the fee in the table below. The app shows you the refund amount before you confirm, so you can always back out.

영수증, in the 결제상세 (payment details) box above, is your receipt — useful if you are claiming travel expenses.

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1 — 예매변경, change the booking. 2 — 예매취소, cancel and refund.

You can only do this from the account that bought the ticket. If a colleague at IBS booked for you, ask them to make the change — it is not in your app.

Once the QR code has been scanned you can no longer cancel in the app; the guide pop-up says to ask the driver or the ticket window instead.

Cancellation fees

Intercity buses charge a cancellation fee that grows as departure approaches. This is the official schedule that took effect on 1 May 2025, as a percentage of the fare:

When you cancel	Bus departs Mon–Thu	Bus departs Fri–Sun or a public holiday	Seollal / Chuseok period
2 or more days before departure	0%	0%	0%
1 day to 3 hours before	5%	7.5%	10%
Under 3 hours before, up to departure time	10%	15%	20%
Up to 1 hour after departure	40%	40%	40%
1 to 4 hours after departure	60%	60%	60%
More than 4 hours after departure	100% — no refund	100%	100%

There is also a grace period: cancelling within one hour of booking is free, as long as the bus has not yet left. Fees are rounded down to the nearest 100 won.

The 1-to-4-hours-after rate rises over time — it was 50% in 2025, is 60% through 30 April 2027, and becomes 70% after that. The fee is unchanged for the airport limousine operators (공항리무진, 도심공항리무진, K공항리무진, 서울공항리무진), which are excluded from this schedule.

Source: 시외버스 취소수수료 변경 안내, the official intercity bus reservation system. Flying out of Korea for good? Cancel as soon as your plans change — two days ahead it costs you nothing.

If something goes wrong

• The card will not register. It is almost certainly issued outside Korea, or not in your own name. Ask a colleague at IBS to book for you and send you the QR code — a ticket bought on someone else’s account is still valid for you.
• Everything is 매진 (sold out). Try the 유성복합 → 인천공항T1/T2 route instead. Yuseong is a different terminal with its own departures, so it often still has seats when Doryong is full. Go back to Step 3 and set 출발지 to 유성복합.
• You left the app mid-booking. The held seat is gone. Start again from Step 6; the seat is usually still free for a few minutes.

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