They are marked by the color of the fabric of the seat, and there are also special stickers to identify these seats. Once a woman has confirmed her pregnancy at a clinic, she can have a special badge (free of charge), which allows her to sit comfortably on public transit. I love this idea because each seat is saying it belongs to the owners of our future. It is especially appropriate that there is specially assigned seating like this on buses because the majority of Koreans don't drive, meaning there are a lot of pregnant women, and children, in need of seats!
The legal driving age in South Korea is 18 years old, but because public transport is so easy and cheap and ubiquitous, most Koreans don't even know how to drive. There are still huge numbers of cars on the nation's roads, and more than enough traffic overall, but this doesn't even compare in numbers with the number of people that use the bus and subway. And these transportation choices are not limited to Koreans: foreigners like myself use public transportation just as much, if not more., than the locals. Due to this fact, almost all of the signs here are written in Korean, Chinese and English, so it is very easy to navigate the city. Subway stations are often decorated to reflect the tourist sites that are nearby, and there are sometimes art installations or television promotions put in for advertising in the stations. During the Fall, there was a giant playground installed as promotion for the Korean Netlfix show, Squid Game. That was kind of epic!
A lot of subway stations also have restaurants, shopping centers or vendors set up in them. This gives the stations the appearance of a miniature city.
