Booked two seats to go comfortably alone, then canceled... Taking a stand against selfish behavior

Weekday Fee Remains at 10%, Weekend 15%, Up to 20% on Holidays
Cancellation Fee Applies from 3 Hours Before Departure
Post-Departure Cancellation Fee Raised from 30% to 50%

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is revising the cancellation fee standards for express bus tickets, which will be applied starting May 1. This revision aims to address the no-show problem caused by cancellations just before or after departure and to increase seat utilization. The main point is to impose cancellation fees differently depending on the day of the week.

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Currently, express bus cancellation fees are uniformly applied at up to 10% before departure and 30% after departure. However, the same standards are applied even on Fridays, weekends, and holidays when passenger demand is high, resulting in low seat turnover rates and difficulties for actual users to obtain tickets. Some passengers have also used a loophole by booking two adjacent seats and canceling one seat immediately after departure to use two seats.

The Ministry has improved the system by applying cancellation fees differently according to the day of the week and timing. On weekends (Friday to Sunday, public holidays), cancellation fees before departure will be up to 15%, and on holidays (Seol and Chuseok), up to 20%. The time window for applying the maximum cancellation fee before departure will be extended from less than 1 hour to less than 3 hours. On weekdays (Monday to Thursday), the maximum fee remains 10%, the same as before. The cancellation fee after departure will also increase from the current 30% to 50%, with a phased increase to 70% by 2027.

Meanwhile, the Ministry plans to recommend that each province, which holds intercity bus licenses, also improve the cancellation fee standards for intercity bus tickets. Eom Jeong-hee, Director of the Transportation and Logistics Office at the Ministry, said, “With the activation of express bus mobile reservations, using express buses has become more convenient, but frequent cancellations just before or after departure are causing difficulties for other passengers to get tickets,” adding, "We ask users to pay a little more attention when reserving tickets.”