Upass
proximity card
Upass (Korean: 유패스) was a prepaid card for the transportation system in Seoul and its suburbs. The card was issued by Seoul Bus Transport Association and eB Card. Its parent-generation card is Seoul Transportation Card, a world-first commercial-used RF card for transportation (first used in June 1996)¹. The Korean system integrator Intec and Seoul Bus Union first launched a test of their system in a trial from October to December 1995. Currently, Upass has been discontinued, replaced by the newer T-money card. Existing cards still can be used in T-money areas.
Technology
Upass, and older Seoul transportation card system is based on MIFARE Standard, Ultralight and PROX technology.
Use
Before its discontinuation in October 2014, many kiosks around Seoul sold various types of Upass cards. Major banks and credit card companies, including favored Kookmin Bank and BC Card, issued Upass compatible credit/debit cards marked with PayOn, MasterCard, Paypass or Visa Paywave. Upass is accepted by:
All Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Incheon, Cheonan, Asan buses
Seoul Subway and AREX
Gyeonggi-do intercity buses which accept payment via transportation cards.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Upass” is proximity card. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Upass, proximity and card, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “proximity card” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q624178. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1996, 1995 and 2014.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Upass”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Upass primary sources, Upass archive and Upass research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Upass”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Upass” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.