One of the easiest ways to feel like being in a K-Drama is (and I’m serious) taking a bus while being in Seoul. Have you ever noticed how many bus scenes there are in K-Dramas? Always. And sometimes they even take the same busses. To convince yourself just take a look at the list of popular K-Drama bus-lines below.
If you want your experience to be really K-Dramaland-like, you should take the bus at night time as most people do in K-Dramaland. For a lot of them, bus rides equal a time for uninterrupted sleep. Often you can observe that the person sitting next to somebody sleeping (their potential love interest in most cases) will direct the sleepy, dangling head either on his/her shoulder so that the person can sleep comfortably or will protect the head with his/her hand so that it doesn’t hit against the window. While doing so and afterwards, they’ll steal glances at the one who sleeps.
Other times, the bus ride is used for self-reflection or reminiscing about the time when being with somebody. The most preferred seats for doing so are those near the end of the bus.
A first encounter with your future partner can also happen on a bus ride even if this first meeting usually leaves a vey bad first impression on both parties involved.
Also, when taking the bus in K-Dramaland watch out for someone chasing after somebody who rides the bus. A quite common habit there.
How to Pay in a Public Bus
At first glance it seems that bus rides are for free in K-Dramaland. But if you observe keenly you’ll see people holding their cell phone, credit card, or handbag (in which is a farecard) against a little machine at the entrance of the bus. A beep will tell them that their fare is payed. If you don’t have any of these paying devises you can pay in cash in throwing the coins in a plastic box next to the driver.
Bus Fare
Blue Bus Lines: 1100 Won ($1,10) per person
Seoul Tour Bus: 10’000 Won per person
Popular Bus Lines in K-Dramaland
BLUE BUSSES
No. 33 – Rosy Lovers-E24
No. 101 – All Kinds of Daughters-in-Law (2017) [Hwang Eun-Byul (Ham Eun-Jung) and Choi Han-Joo (Kang Kyeong-Jun) take this bus in episode 3]
No. 110 – My Lovable Girl-2, Rosy Lovers-9, Mr. Back-13
No. 141 – The Liar and His Lover (2017) [Kang Han-Gyeol (Lee Hyun-woo) takes this bus in episode 5.]
No. 142 – Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (2017)
No. 152 – Neighborhood Hero-1; Happy Home-E17 (2016)
No. 153 – Birth of Beauty-1, Detectives of Seonam Girls High School-1
No. 162 – Glorious Temptation-5; The Legend of the Blue Sea [This is the bus Sim Chung (Gianna Jun) takes to the 63 Building in episode 3 – she enters at the Jamsil Sports Complex bus stop.]
No. 172 No. 262 – The Legendary Witch-1; Legend of the Blue Sea (2016) [Sim Chung (Gianna Jun) takes this bus to Namsan Tower in episode 5.]
No. 271 – Fight For My Way (2017) [Choi Ae-Ra (Kim Ji-Won) and Park Hye-Ran (Lee Elijah) take this bus in episode 14];Lookout (2017) [Key (Kong Kyung-Soo) takes this bus in episode 10.]; Perfect Wife (2017) [Shim Jae Bok (Ko So Young) also takes this bus in episode 4]; Sweet Home Sweet Honey [episode 4]; The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop (2016) [Kang Tae-Yang (Hyun Woo) takes this bus from KBC where his girlfriend broke up with him in episode 3]; Father, I’ll Take Care of You (2016-17) [Han Sung-Joon (Lee Tae-Hwan) takes this bus in episode 4].
No. 273 – The Liar and His Lover (2017) [Yoon So-rim (Joy) takes this bus in episode 1.]
No. 301 – School 2013-3
No. 303 – My ID Is Gangnam Beauty (2018) [Kang Mi-Rae (Lim Soo-Hyang) takes this bus in episode 5]; Your House Helper (2018) [Kim Ji-Woon (Ha Seok-Jin) and Im Da-Young (Bona) take this bus in episode 5.]
No. 306 – Valid Love-5,10
No. 310 – Robot Aj3 takes this bus one episode 29 of I’m Not A Robot (2017-18)
No. 400 – Yeah,That’s How It Is-5
No. 421 – Bubblegum-13,14
No. 455 – Plus Nine Boys-9
No. 461 – Father, I’ll Take Care of You (2016) [Oh Dong-Hee (Park Eun-Bin) takes this bus to go to work on her first workday in episode 8.]
No. 500 – Personal Taste-1
No. 601 – Sassy Go Go-4
No. 650 – Secret Garden (2010-11) [Gil Ra-Im (Ha Ji-Won) takes this bus in episode 1.]
No. 703 – Healer-17; Second Time Twenty Years Old-8
No. 710 – She Was Pretty-10
No. 813 – Five Children-8
No. 849 – The Best Hit (2017) [Choi Woo-Seung (Lee Se-Young) and Lee Ji-Hoon (Kim Min-Jae) take this bus in episode 25]; On the Way to the Airport (2016) [Choi Soo-Ah (Kim Ha-Neul) takes this bus in episode 10]; Mr. Back-2, Legendary Witch-9, Rosy Lovers-11; Happy Home (2016)-E22; Drinking Solo (2016) [This is the bus Park Ha-Na (Park Ha-Sun) takes in episode 2]
No. 909 – Plus Nine Boys-5, Love Frequency 37.2-1, Rosy Lovers-11, She was Pretty-9; Because It’s the First Time-4
GREEN BUSSES
No. 금천03 – You’re Beautiful (Jeremy’s bus line)
No. 400 – Tomorrow With You (2017) [Song Ma-Rin (Shin Min-Ah) takes this bus in episode 1 after she has checked out of the hospital.]
No. 803 – Oh My Venus-1
No. 1008 – Second Time Twenty Years Old; Oh My Ghostess-7
No. 1020 – My Lovable Girl-3, Birth of Beauty-1, Legendary Witch-9;
No. 1034 – Healer
No. 1127 – Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (2017) [This is the bus that Ahn Min-hyuk takes to visit his mother’s grave and that Bong-soon saves from falling down a bridge.]
No. 1165 – Click Your Love-6
No. 1377 – All ABout My Mom-30
No. 2134 – Pinocchio-4
No. 2224 – Marriage Contract-7
No. 3030 – Plus Nine Boys-11
No. 4011 – Rooftop Prince (2012) [Yong Tae-yong (Park Yoochun ) takes this bus in episode 11.]; I Can Hear Your Voice, 49 Days-1
No. 7027 – Are You Human? (2018) [Kang So-Bong (Kong Seung-Yeon) takes this bus in episode 11]; Temperature of Love (2017) [Lee Hyun-Soo (Seo Hyun-Jin) takes this bus in episode 1.], Reunited Worlds (2017) [Jung Jung-Won (Lee Yeon-Hee) takes this bus in episode 35]; Strongest Deliveryman (2017) [Lee Dan-Ah (Chae Soo-Bin) takes this bus in episode 5];
No. 7617 – Temperature of Love (2017) [Lee Hyun-Soo (Seo Hyun-Jin) takes this bus in episode 7.]
No. 8714 – Five Children-19 (2016)
No. 9408 – Lucky Romance (2016)-E8; Shopping King Louis (2016) [This is the bus the grandmother that stole Ko Bok-Sil’s (Nam Ji-Hyun) belongings takes when being chased by Bok-Sil.]
No. 9711 (to Ilsan)- Plus Nine Boys-8
EXPRESS BUSSES
No. 78-8 (to Cheongju Orphanage) – Legendary Witch-9
No. 837 (to Cheonan) – Legendary Witch-9
Express bus from Gyeongspan to Seoul – My Heart Twinkle Twinkle-4
SEOUL TOUR BUS
OTHER BUSSES
Bus 20-2 [Banghak-dong to Toegyero] — Reply 1988-4