The purpose of this study is to propose mining processes in the large trip-transaction database of the Metropolitan Seoul area and to analyze the spatial characteristics of travel behavior. For the purpose. this study introduces a mining algorithm developed for exploring trip patterns from the large trip-transaction database produced every day by transit users in the Metropolitan Seoul area. The algorithm computes trip chains of transit users by using the bus routes and a graph of the subway stops in the Seoul subway network. We explore the transfer frequency of the transit users in their trip chains in a day transaction database of three different years. We find the number of transit users who transfer to other bus or subway is increasing yearly. From the trip chains of the large trip-transaction database, trip patterns are mined to analyze how transit users travel in the public transportation system. The mining algorithm is a kind of level-wise approaches to find frequent trip patterns. The resulting frequent patterns are illustrated to show top-ranked subway stations and bus stops in their supports. From the outputs, we explore the travel patterns of three different time zones in a day. We obtain sufficient differences in the spatial structures in the travel patterns of origin and destination depending on time zones. In order to examine the changes in the travel patterns along time, we apply the algorithm to one day data per year since 2004. The results are visualized by utilizing GIS, and then the spatial characteristics of travel patterns are analyzed. The spatial distribution of trip origins and destinations shows the sharp distinction among time zones.