Korail's ticket-forwarding service cements itself as a national staple

Korail's ticket-forwarding service has cemented itself as a national staple, drawing an average of about 50,000 users a day.

In the first half of this year, the service averaged about 49,000 daily users — roughly 12 percent of the approximately 417,000 passengers who rode Korail trains each day over the same period, the state railway operator said Thursday. That figure is about three times the roughly 15,000 daily users recorded in September 2021, when Korail expanded the forwarding options available through the service.

Usage was also up 11 percent from the same period last year, when the daily average stood at about 44,000. If the trend holds, annual users could reach about 18.3 million this year.

The ticket-forwarding service lets passengers send train tickets booked through the Korail Talk mobile app or the Korail website to another person. Tickets can be forwarded via Korail Talk, KakaoTalk or SMS.

KakaoTalk is the most popular forwarding method. Its share of ticket transfers rose from 42 percent in 2021 to 63 percent this year.

The service has been particularly valuable in bridging the digital divide for older passengers, people with disabilities and others who struggle with technology. Those unfamiliar with smartphone booking or online ticketing can now have a family member or acquaintance purchase tickets on their behalf, sparing them a trip to the station window.

Meanwhile, Korail plans to expand the service in November so that tickets booked by non-members can also be forwarded. Previously, only tickets purchased by registered Korail members could be forwarded, but the introduction of a government-integrated authentication system, Any-ID, in April strengthened identity verification for non-member bookings, making it possible to extend the forwarding option to non-members as well.

"We will continue to improve our service from the customer's perspective by actively leveraging IT technology, and work toward a rail environment where even those with limited digital access can travel with ease," said Lee Min-seong, head of Korail's passenger project division.