Photo/Illutration Passengers are expected to wave a QR code ticket over a reader at automatic gates. (Provided by East Japan Railway Co.)

Eight railway operators in the Kanto region are switching to tickets printed with a QR code to cut the maintenance costs of automatic gates and promote the recycling of used tickets.

East Japan Railway Co., Keikyu Corp., Tobu Railway Co. and other companies announced on May 29 that QR code tickets will replace conventional magnetic tickets for short-distance travel in phases, starting in fiscal 2027.

Passengers would wave their tickets over QR code readers at entry and exit gates and put the tickets into collection boxes at their destinations for recycling.

The size of the tickets will remain unchanged.

Magnetic tickets are expected to continue to be used for mid- to long-distance routes, such as on Shinkansen.

When passengers insert magnetic tickets into automatic gates, departure stations and other information stored in the magnetically coated black portion on their back are read while the tickets are carried forward by belts and rollers.

The companies said magnetic tickets often get jammed inside automatic gates and that the magnetic layer needs to be removed before recycling.

Today, many passengers carry JR East’s Suica and other smart cards. Paper tickets are used for less than 10 percent of train rides in the Kanto region, the companies said.

“We will switch to a sustainable system using QR code tickets to maintain paper tickets,” a JR East representative said.

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