'Stood there with 10,000 won'... Chinese woman delayed airport bus

A story has emerged of a Chinese woman on an airport bus who delayed its departure by hesitating over paying her fare in full.

On Tuesday, a post on the social media platform Threads said passengers on a bus bound for Incheon International Airport had to wait for a while. A Chinese woman stood still without properly paying the fare.

According to the post's author, identified only as A, the bus fare was 17,000 won ($13), but the woman had only 10,000 won in cash. Her transit card also lacked sufficient balance, so the payment did not go through.

"I tapped the bus card and it showed insufficient balance," A said. "When the driver said, 'Cash, please,' she just stood there holding only 10,000 won."

"The driver still tried to get her on board — he took the 10,000 won in cash and tried tapping the transit card for 7,000 won, then for 5,000 won, but with all the passengers waiting, he looked anxious," A said.

The woman reportedly ended up borrowing money from a Chinese couple who boarded after her to pay the fare. The bus driver apparently apologized repeatedly to the waiting passengers.

"The driver was trying every way he could to help her, but she just stood there blankly holding only 10,000 won, which was absurd," A said. "Airport buses are timed to flight schedules, so it did not make any sense."

As the post spread, some online users raised allegations that the woman may have intentionally avoided paying the fare.

One user said, "It's trending on the Chinese internet as 'how to ride buses for free in Korea.' The idea is that when a transit card shows insufficient balance, Korean drivers usually feel pressed for time and just let people board anyway, so all you have to do is hold your ground. They should be kicked off without mercy."

Another user said, "I travel abroad more than twice a month, and I've seen Chinese tourists like this more than once or twice. If someone hasn't paid, they should never be allowed to board."

There have been recent online reports of some Chinese tourists visiting Korea tagging transit cards with insufficient balance on card readers and boarding without paying the fare.

B, who said she visited Jeju with her daughter, wrote on Instagram that she boarded bus No. 101 at Jeju International Airport. Every time a passenger tagged a transit card on the card reader, she heard an announcement saying "insufficient balance."

"At first I thought it was no big deal, but at every stop, a Chinese passenger with insufficient balance kept boarding," she said. "I wondered if they were deliberately not topping up their cards, since the driver just let them on anyway."

C also said, "Two Chinese passengers boarded a limousine bus from Seomyeon to Gimhae Airport, and one of them had insufficient balance. The driver let them board and departed, but the driver got extremely angry, saying, 'Only Chinese people do that.'"

As such accounts spread, calls are growing for separate measures to address unpaid transit fares by foreign passengers.