Transit-Commerce Integration in Seoul: Examining Its Impacts on Ridership, User Experience, and Transport System Finances

Abstract

Transit-commerce integration (TCI), meaning retail that is architecturally unified with transit stations and usually owned by the transit agency, is among the most visible features of Seoul's subway system and an increasingly discussed model for North American transit agencies seeking to improve system performance and generate non-fare revenue. This study examines how Seoul's TCI model shapes ridership, user experience, and system finances through a mixed-methods case study of four Seoul Metro stations: Jamsil, Seongsu, Myeongdong, and Banpo. This study draws on Seoul Metro's open-source ridership dataset covering all 365 days of 2024, seven years of Seoul Metro financial statements, expert interviews with two Seoul-based senior urban planning researchers, and a primary survey of 21 transit users with direct experience on Seoul Metro.This study finds that commercially integrated stations consistently outperform comparable non-integrated stations on ridership metrics, retaining between 84 and 107 percent of weekday ridership on weekends compared to 54 to 66 percent at low-integration stations on the same lines. User experience findings, grounded in Gehl's quality criteria and Alfonzo's hierarchy of walking needs and corroborated by survey testimony, identify safety through passive surveillance, trip-chaining convenience, and urban vibrancy as TCI's primary experiential contributions. Financial findings reveal that commercial revenue covered only 18 to 23 percent of Seoul Metro's operating loss from 2022 to 2024, a ratio that remained essentially unchanged as the operating deficit grew 77 percent between 2019 and 2024. The study concludes with regulatory, infrastructure, lease structure, and station-specific design recommendations for Sound Transit's ST3 expansion plans, grounded in both the Seoul evidence and documented barriers to TCI in the Seattle context.