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A Study of IC Card Systems Within Japanese Urban Railway Lines: Considering the Integration of Transportation Services

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A Study of IC Card Systems Within Japanese Urban Railway Lines: Considering the Integration of Transportation Services 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). Whereas automatic ticket gates had already become commonplace by the late 1990s, the emergence of IC cards changed the usage of ticket gates. Since a single IC card had become valid for different firms, IC card systems made passengers’ travel more convenient. Also, railway companies and other public transport operators started to utilise IC card systems in their non-transport businesses. Accordingly, various railway companies introduced IC card systems in urban areas as early as the 2000s and, nowadays, IC card systems have become commonplace in Japanese public transport—especially in urban railways. So far, forty-seven IC card systems have been introduced by independent railways in Japan (MLIT, 2015). Whereas operation of each IC card system is independent, passengers enjoy their travel in different areas by utilising one of the major IC cards. As such, the outline of IC card systems in Japan has become complex—particularly over the last ten years. Despite much interest by both passengers and experts, little study has been implemented about the practical operation of utilising IC card systems. Some difficulties were to be expected, mainly because new IC card systems were introduced independently and collaboration among different IC card issuers progressed quite rapidly and radically. Hence, this paper aims to study the IC card systems introduced by Japanese passenger railways to clarify the following: 397 Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.13, 2019 (1) the development and current status of IC card systems in Japan; (2) how each railway company does fare transactions utilising an IC card system; (3) how different railway companies collaborate in fare transactions utilising IC card systems. Item (3) also clarifies how fare transactions are implemented for through-train services between different railways’ networks and also clarifies how fare transactions are implemented among card issuers when the passengers travel to different areas by utilising a single IC card. 2. RESEARCH DESIGN AND OUTLINE OF PAPER In order to clarify the aforementioned items, this study was carried out through reliable literature and reports as well as by interviews with the concerned representatives. The paper is structured as follows. Since IC card systems have become commonplace in metropolitan areas and large cities, the next section firstly describes outline of Japanese railways in urban areas. Then, it studies how railways and other public transport are operated and managed in such areas. As different railways provide through-train services in metropolitan areas, the latter section investigates how those services are provided by different railways in Japan. Section 4 studies IC card systems for public transport in Japan. It firstly reviews how IC card systems have been introduced and developed. Then, it investigates fare transactions when passengers utilise IC card systems. Following the study of fare transactions within a railway company, the latter part of the section studies those designed for through-train services in a metropolitan area, along with those among different IC card systems when passengers travel to different areas utilising a single IC card. The investigations have been implemented through the authors’ interviews with the representatives of IC card issuer, PASMO. Providing a comparison with a case in an overseas country, Section 5 studies how an IC card system has been introduced and operated in Singapore. This case study is also implemented through the interviews to the concerned representatives. Then, Section 6 discusses the ramifications of the findings based on this study, drawing some conclusions. 3. OUTLINE OF JAPANESE URBAN RAILWAYS 3.1 THREE TYPES OF RAILWAYS IN JAPANESE METROPOLITAN AREAS Japan has several major metropolitan areas, e.g. Tokyo, Kansai and Chukyo. The railway network in these metropolitan areas can be broadly categorised into three types of railways of which background is largely different. The outline of the three (JR, metros, private railways) is shown below. JR companies were established through the railway reform of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1987. At the time of the reform, JNR was separated into six regional JR passenger companies and a vertically separated freight company. JNR’s network on the main island (Honshu) was divided into the three areas, and each of the three companies (JR East, JR West, JR Central) operates an urban railway network in Tokyo, Kansai and Chukyo respectively. Since the infrastructure was developed by JNR, the three companies did not necessarily need to make a significant investment to extend and upgrade the network. Thus, they have been operating their urban railway network profitably by paying the maintenance costs of the infrastructure. The shares of the three and JR Kyushu have been listed on the Japanese stock exchange, and they have already become private companies. In addition to rolling stock and other facilities, in some cases, they also invest in infrastructure to bolster 398 Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.13, 2019 service improvement without receiving subsidies from the government. Metro systems are operated within the central area of the large cities in Japan. The network lengths of the metro lines in Tokyo, Kansai and Chukyo are 304.1 km, 129.9 km and 93.3 km, respectively (Japan Subway Association, 2018). The systems are operated by either an authority of the regional government or a public corporation. Though public finance was utilised to construct these systems, most lines have been operated ever since without receiving an annual subsidy. In contrast to the two types above, private companies have developed railway networks and operate them without relying on annual subsidies. As some lines extend to suburban areas far from their city centres, it is difficult to ascertain accurate figures such as route length of the private railways in each metropolitan area. There are also several lines which are operated by the joint venture with a regional government and those operated by public corporations. Nevertheless, provided that the scope is defined within the so-called sixteen major railways, the outline of the private railways in the three metropolitan areas is shown by Table 1. Table 1. Outline of private railways in the three metropolitan areas Transport Volume Metropolitan Number of Operating Route Number of (million Areas Major Railways Length (km) Stations passengers/year) Tokyo 8 1,225.2 698 5,108 Kansai 5 939.5 616 1,987 Chukyo 1 444.2 275 379 Notes; All figures from FY 2016 Source; Japan Private Railway Association (2018) As investigated above, metropolitan areas in Japan have mature railway networks which have different backgrounds: JR lines, metro lines and private railways’ lines. Though regional governments operate the metro system through their transport authority or public corporations, the public sector is not directly related to the management of either JR lines or private railway lines. Those lines are operated by licensed companies, and they do not have service contracts with the public sector. 3.2 INDEPENDENT MANAGEMENT BY INTEGRATED RAILWAYS As a characteristic of railway operations in Japan, in principle, each railway company has its infrastructure and drives the trains only on it independently. This is particularly the case in urban railway lines, where the revenue can cover the maintenance costs of the infrastructure. As reviewed in the former sub-section, there exist three types of railways in metropolitan areas, and each network is operated independently by vertically integrated railways. Historically, the railway companies in metropolitan areas have provided through-train services since the services
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