Photo/Illutration A ticket gate for credit card payments is introduced at a Tokyu Railways Co. station in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. (Go Takahashi)

An increasing number of train stations feature ticket gates that accept credit card payments, but railway companies need to improve coordination to spread the system and heighten efficiency for tourists.

And one key railway in Japan has so far shown no interest in joining the system.

Prepaid IC cards, such as Suica and Pasmo, are widely used at stations.

But the new credit-card gates allow passengers to take trains without worrying about remaining balances. And they spare foreign travelers from having to buy IC cards that are used only in Japan and may need recharging.

So far, the service is provided mainly in urban areas.

Tokyu Railways Co. started a demonstration experiment on Aug. 30 to allow passengers to go through ticket gates with credit cards when they use a one-day pass for the Denentoshi and Setagaya lines.

The new ticket gates are equipped with a reading device for credit cards and QR codes in front of the IC card reader.

The company plans to install the exclusive ticket gates at almost all of its stations by the end of March next year.

It also intends to introduce the tap-and-go system for regular rides in or after spring 2024.

“We can digitally grasp which stations passengers use, how long they spend at the stations and other details, so we also want to develop products that enable commercial facilities along the railway lines and train tickets to work in tandem,” said Hiromu Inaba, senior manager of the public relations and marketing department at Tokyu Railways.

According to credit card operator Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Visa credit cards with tap-to-pay capabilities can be used in at least 680 public transportation services mainly in the United States and Europe, while an additional 800 or so are considering introducing the system.

Although Japan trails others in going cashless, the use of credit cards with tap-to-pay capabilities spread across the country in 2019.

However, only a handful of railway operators have introduced the credit card payment system on all of their lines.

Fukuoka City Subway installed ticket gates supporting Visa payments at seven stations in late May 2022 in a demonstration experiment.

Since late March this year, the system has been introduced at 36 stations on all three of its lines, accepting Visa and five other credit cards.

The average daily number of credit card payments increased to about 5,800 in July from 2,600 in April.

Enoshima Electric Railway Co. in Kanagawa Prefecture has installed ticket gates supporting credit card payments at all of its stations since April, while Osaka Monorail Co. and Kobe City Subway plan to follow suit from spring next year.

Tokyo Metro Co. plans to conduct a trial run by the end of March 2025.

However, many railway companies operate through-services in the Tokyo metropolitan and Kinki areas. It is possible that passengers will be able to use credit card payments to enter a station’s platform, but the system will be unavailable at the destination station if it is managed by a different company.

Whether railway operators can be more in sync with each other will be key to the service.

On the other hand, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has no plans to introduce tap-and-go credit card payments because it instead intends to expand the use of its Suica cards for nontrain services to establish an “economic zone,” a company representative said.

JR East said it takes less than 0.2 second for Suica cards to process each transaction at the ticket gates, ensuring a smooth flow of crowds even during rush hours in metropolitan areas.

“It is also necessary to see whether the processing speed for payment can meet our standards,” the representative added.

According to a Visa public relations official, it takes about 0.3 second for its payments to complete a transaction.

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