Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.13, 2019 A Study of IC Card Systems within Japanese Urban Railway Lines: Considering the Integration of Transportation Services Fumio KUROSAKI a, Shosaku HIGASHINO b a,b Institute of Transportation Economics, Tokyo, 160-0016, Japan a E-mail:
[email protected] b E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: Since IC cards have much larger data capacity in comparison with paper-based magnetic tickets, they can record the precise data of passengers’ travel. Japanese passenger railways have tried to utilise this advantage to make public transport more convenient and to expand its business scope without support from the public sector. Although various IC card systems were developed by different railways, 10 major cards have agreed on mutual use among them since 2013. As such, Japanese passenger railways have garnered fruitful results by utilising IC card systems so far. To make public transport in urban areas more convenient, the public sector can also utilise IC card systems to introduce new rules like those found in Singapore. Keywords: IC card system, urban railways, public transport, through-train services, fare ticket 1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY AND AIM OF RESEARCH In urban areas in Japan, public transport systems are operated by independent operators that do not receive subsidies. This is regarded as a particular characteristic of the operation and management of urban railways and public transport in Japan. As urban railways retained investment capacity for modernising railway operations, some firms began to introduce magnetic fare tickets in the 1970s, and automatic ticket gates had been widely introduced in stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area since the early 1990s (Shiibashi, 2005).