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TOKYO (Jiji Press) — East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, has announced plans to raise its regular fares for train services in Tokyo and nearby prefectures by ¥10 from around March 2023.
JR East hopes to use the proceeds from the fare increase to cover the costs for measures to make its stations barrier-free, including installing platform doors. The company submitted its fare revision and facility improvement plans through fiscal 2035 to the transport ministry’s Kanto District Transport Bureau.
“We want to promote barrier-free accessibility” using the revenues, JR East President Yuji Fukasawa told a press conference Tuesday.
The planed fare hike will apply to sections covering 278 stations on 16 lines in Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki. Commuter pass costs will go up by ¥280 for one month and by ¥1,420 for six months. Prices of passes for students will be kept unchanged.
JR East plans to spend some ¥590 billion by fiscal 2035 to cover installation and maintenance costs for platform doors, elevators and other facilities in its stations. The fare hike revenue through the fiscal year ending in March 2036 is estimated at about ¥299 billion.
Last year, the transport ministry introduced a system allowing the costs of installing barrier-free facilities at stations in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas to be passed on to train fares.
Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai, West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, and other major railway operators are also considering fare hikes utilizing the system. The service areas of JR Tokai and JR West include the Nagoya metropolitan region and the Osaka region, respectively.
