Comments on: Annals of cheap: Tokyo Metro kaisuken

By: seaweb

seaweb — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:19:45 +0000

Muzukashii, desu ne? For tourists (older, denser ones), there’s almost no way to travel by subway without a knowledgeable friend. I waited for twenty minutes, patiently smoking cigarettes and eyeing the ticket buyers and the machines in complete confusion before I spotted someone who could spare a moment to help me get a ticket. And that’s why I buy a JR Pass and walk a lot. Which is a win after all. No complaints. With some language skills, I would be fine. In the meantime…hey, great legs!

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:26:45 +0000

I guess it depends on the trip you are doing. Mine is pretty short (4 stops, one line) and it is more interesting to buy kaisuken. So, message to readers could be: do the maths before buying.

By: Philip

Philip — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:41:34 +0000

By my calculation, based on a 22-day work month, a Tokyo Metro teikiken is still cheaper than using individual kaisuken, but the important thing is that potentially teikiken are the cheapest because you can use them an unlimited number of times within the designated period. But, again, that’s only for one line, not the network.

Also, you can’t get your full discount’s worth if you adjust the fare of a kaisuken after using it to go further than its face value allows. In order to get the full 10 percent discount you have to use the proper tickets without adjustments, otherwise you’re just diluting the discount. And that’s the main point of the post.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:42:19 +0000

Not quite right.
As an avid user of Tokyo Metro kaisuken, I came to realise 2 things:
- it is cheaper to buy kaisuken than teikiken (monthly pass) if you do 2 trips a day. Metro teikiken are more expensive than JR ones, so it does not apply to JR. Plus, if you are in vacation/sick/business trip, you are not paying, as opposite to the teikiken.
- you don’t have to stock 160, 190, 230 yens kaisuken, because you can pay the difference at the exit gate. The savings are not the same, but it is a matter of +-10 yens.