When international travelers step onto a Seoul subway train platform, they are often struck by the lack of trash on the floor, delayed trains or dead zones on their smartphones. That seamless efficiency has now earned the Korean capital top honors in two major international transit rankings. British lifestyle media outlet "Time Out" placed the Korean capital fifth in its 2026 global transit survey — up three spots from last year — with 91.1 percent of surveyed residents expressing satisfaction. Meanwhile, CNN featured Seoul in its roundup of the world's 18 best metro systems, highlighting its cleanliness, high safety standards and tech-forward amenities. Behind the global accolades lies decades of aggressive infrastructure investment, particularly in passenger safety, accessibility and digital convenience. A central cornerstone of the system's safety record is its universal platform screen door network. Implemented under Mayor Oh Se-hoon during his first term as mayor, Seoul completed glass barrier installations across all 262 initial stations on Lines 1 through 8 by 2009. The initia