As of June 2023, the JR Group has six suburban areas: “Tokyo Suburban Area,” “Niigata Suburban Area,” “Sendai Suburban Area,” “Osaka Suburban Area,” and “Fukuoka Suburban Area. The handling of tickets within these metropolitan suburban areas has the following characteristics. 1. (1) When using a standard ticket only within the suburban areas of major cities, the fare is calculated based on the cheapest route, regardless of the actual route taken.
- the passenger can choose any route as long as it does not overlap, but no stopovers are allowed.
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a one-way ticket is valid only for the day regardless of the distance. The “1.” is used in the well-known “roundabout way”. Even if you take a roundabout way to the next station without duplicating the route, the fare is calculated based on the shortest distance. However, since it is not possible to get off the train on the way to the next station according to “2. You are stuck in the lurch from the beginning to the end. The other four areas are not so big, so it is OK, but the problem is the “Tokyo Suburban Section” and the “Osaka Suburban Section. The area has been expanding rapidly, and some stations are located at the end of the suburban section, which is surprising. In the case of the Tokyo suburban section, Kuroiso on the Tohoku Main Line (Utsunomiya Line) is still a good place to start, but Namie on the Joban Line, Matsumoto on the Shinonoi Line, and Mizukami on the Joetsu Line are all “Tokyo suburbs” in the sense of “where are they? The result was the limited express train “HITACHI”. As a result, the limited expresses “Hitachi” and “Tokiwa” run from Tokyo to Mito, or the limited express “Azusa” runs from Shinjuku to Shiojiri or Matsumoto, or in extreme cases, the “Hitachi” and “Tokiwa” are connected to the “Azusa” and run from Mito to Tokyo to Shinjuku to Matsumoto via conventional lines. All of these trains are “within the Tokyo suburban area” and cannot be used as stopovers. On the contrary, the ticket will expire if it is not used on the same day. Incidentally, the operating kilometer between Tokyo and Namie is 274.4 km, and that between Shinjuku and Matsumoto is 225.1 km. 274.4 km is the distance from Tokyo to Hamamatsu and beyond on the Tokaido Main Line.
If a stopover is made outside of the metropolitan-suburban section, it will be possible to make a stopover. The previous rule applies to “only within the metropolitan-suburban section” with a standard ticket, so if the section on the ticket is outside of the metropolitan-suburban section, it will not apply. Even if it is only one station. If one of the stations you use is at the end of the Tokyo suburban section, then a realistic escape route (?) can be established. If one of the stations you use is at the end of the Tokyo suburban section, then a practical escape route (?) can be established. For example, if you take the Chuo Main Line to Matsumoto. If you take the Oito Line from Matsumoto to Kita-Matsumoto, one stop further on, the ticket is no longer “only within the Tokyo suburban section. And even if you extend the train between Matsumoto and Kita-Matsumoto, it will only increase the distance by 0.8 km. The operating kilometer between Tokyo and Matsumoto is 235.4 km, so adding 0.8 km to that would give 236.2 km; between Shinjuku and Matsumoto, adding 0.8 km would give 225.9 km; the fare for the 221-240 km section is 4,070 yen, both within this range. This means that a ticket with the same fare, with the ability to make stopovers, and with an extended validity period, can be created. However, the Matsumoto-Hotaka section of the Oito Line and the Shinonoi Line north of Matsumoto are scheduled to be added to the Suica area in the spring of 2025, and “will be added as stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area,” according to the company. If this is realized, it will be possible to travel from Tokyo to Hotaka by Suica. However, it is conceivable that the Tokyo suburban section will be expanded along with it, making the extension of the line to neighboring Kita-Matsumoto ineffective.
Let’s do some arithmetic on the assumption that the Tokyo suburban section extends to Hotaka. Let’s assume a situation where you want to make a stopover in Kofu on your way to Matsumoto. Let’s assume that the reason is …… “I want to eat Hoto. The operating kilometer between Tokyo and Kofu is 134.1 km, and the operating kilometer between Shinjuku and Kofu is 123.8 km. Both fares are within the range of 121-140 km and cost 2,310 yen. Next, the operating kilometer between Kofu and Matsumoto is 111.6 km, and the fare is 1980 yen. The total cost is 4,290 yen. Compared to a through ticket between Tokyo and Matsumoto, this is 220 yen more. Now, what would happen if you buy a through ticket to Ariake, one stop further from Hotaka? The operating kilometer for fare calculation between Tokyo and Ariake is 255.6 km, and the operating kilometer for fare calculation between Shinjuku and Ariake is 245.3 km, so the fares are both within the range of 241 to 260 km, or 4,510 yen. As expected, too much is discarded without riding, making it meaningless. A 220 yen increase by splitting the ticket would be acceptable. Not only when considering the use of stopovers, there are many situations where you need to calculate and compare fares like this. This leads to the discussion that it is better to know the fare calculation method, but it is quite a complicated topic due to the historical background. It is difficult to decide how to deal with this issue. However, if you simply want to know how much the fare will be, you can use a transfer guide site. Since it is the fare that you want to know, not the train connections, you can specify the departure and arrival times as you wish.
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