Tuttle Rides Nine

Well, it's official: Seoul Metro 9 line is open for business. Frequent readers of the Seoul Patch (and who can blame you, after all?) may recall that I went on a test ride of the new underground back in early May (if you don't, then pay better attention in the future, and go here).

During the trial run, the super nifty over-door signs didn't work, so you can see them in action in the video below. At first, I thought the escalator wasn't working, but when passengers pass the electric eye, it starts up--great energy-saver, that.



But that footage is from the end of my trip, when I got off the train at Jeungmi, my very own subway stop. Let's go to the beginning, shall we? After my summer camp session ended at 9 AM, I decided to go to Dangsan, where I recently discovered there is a McDonald's that has breakfast. I never go near Mickey D's unless there is a sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin in my immediate future. The nearest stop to the school is Deungchon:


All Metro stations are kept cean and orderly, but there is something about a station with that new car smell:





All Seoul Metro stations also have pretty good signage, with station and neighborhood maps on the platform and the entry plaza. Personally, I think they could do with more route and system maps, but below are: first, a platform-level map; second, a detail from the station map; and third, a neighborhood map just inside my exit at Jeungmi. The graphics are clearer and cleaner than the old style, and the "Google maps" of the neighborhood are particularly helpful if you are familiar with overhead views of buildings--in any case, they are no less informative than the old ones. The pictures underneath show more map locations.








I think this is the "performing place" referred to in the station map detail above:


Here is a vending station on the train platform. They accept payment with your T-Money card; note the Georgia brand coffee machine.


I got this semi-humorous shot of the new benches on the platform:


And finally, a photo taken onboard one of the new trains. I didn't take any pictures of the Sausage McMuffin, since I figured you probably know what that looks like already.