Reserved vs Non Reserved

[Mudkip Orange]

How do I know what seats are reserved and non-reserved on a given train? For example, suppose I get the Green Pass, show up at Shinagawa, Shinkansen rolls up and I see the green car.

 

What steps should I have taken in advance to avoid a situation where some guy in a hat is yelling at me?

[railsquid]

Quite simple - it will be written on each car outside and inside whether it's reserved or non-reserved. I'm not sure if there's such a thing as unreserved Green car seating anywhere, certainly not on the Tokaido Shinkansen.

 

If you need to reserve a seat, go to the next Midori-no-madoguchi and ask there.

Edited June 13, 2016 by railsquid

[miyakoji]

If you have the pass, I think you just have to go up to a ticket counter and ask for a reservation ticket.  Otherwise it would be 520 yen.  If you don't have time and go directly to the platform, you can identify reserved vs unreserved like this:

 

Most usefully, on shinkansen platforms (all of them, maybe) there are small signs hanging over the edge of the platform.  Under these are where the doors will be when the train stops, and they indicate what that car's status will be.

 

first pic: http://blog.livedoor.jp/kuromi332/archives/47406541.html

 

You can also watch the car's destination board cycle through the 3 or 4 different panels that it shows, one of them will have that car's status, like the second panel shown here:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Japan_Railway_-_Series_N700-7000_-_Destination_Sign_-_01.jpg

 

 

You can also look around for diagrams such as the 3 on this page (top to bottom they are for Nozomi, Hikari, and Kodama services):

 

http://railway.jr-central.co.jp/train/shinkansen/detail_01_01/unit.html

 

The blue squares with 自 mean unreserved, the green squares with 指 mean reserved.  I'm sure there are English versions as well.

 

I stood on a Nozomi once, most of the way from Tokyo to Okayama.  Dumb.  I was still a n00b and I didn't realize I could just go buy a seat ticket.

[miyakoji]

It would be 520 yen for a regular reserved seat.  The green car reservation is more, I don't know how they break it up, if it's an addition on the express fare, or the seat itself, etc etc.  If you get the regular Rail Pass, I think you get regular seat reservations just by asking.  A more expensive Rail Pass likewise gets you Green seats.  Someone else will know more about this.

[katoftw]

Read this:- http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html

[JR 500系]

Read this:- http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html

 

In particular, this paragraph:

 

Reserved vs. non-reserved cars

Most shinkansen trains offer both non-reserved seats (自由席, jiyūseki) and reserved seats (指定席, shiteiseki) in separate cars. Only the Hayabusa, Hayate and Komachi trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen and the Kagayaki trains on the Hokuriku Shinkansen are fully reserved and do not carry non-reserved seating.

 

All seats in Green Cars are reserved. Bilingual signs indicate whether a shinkansen car carries reserved or non-reserved seats.

 

Advance seat reservations are required to use a seat in a reserved car (see below on how to make seat reservations). A fee of a few hundred yen applies for making seat reservations. Japan Rail Pass holders can make seat reservations for free.

 

Now I also know there is no such thing as a non-reserved Green seat!  :)

[bikkuri bahn]

I suppose you could call the green cars on JR East 's outer suburban services non-reserved, at least partially- you get on with a green car ticket w/o a designated seat number.  You find an open seat, and when the conductor/attendant comes around, you show/tell him/her your destination.  Your seat is reserved for the balance of your journey.  I think the process is the same with a suica card, you charge the card beforehand for the route intended (in lieu of a paper ticket) and then tap the receptacle above the seat to change from "open" to "occupied".

[JR 500系]

You mean the Sub-Urbans like E231-1000, E233-3000, E531s Double-deckers?

 

 

Amazing why Green is used as a 'occupied seat' while red is 'empty'... It's more practical to use Green as empty and red as occupied like we all know from toilet cubicles, right?

[bikkuri bahn]

Perhaps two reasons for the color choice:

1. Change from red to green indicates "in use" or "activated", rather than the sense of passage/blocking "stop or go".

2. Red is more visible at a glance, so open seats are easier to find.

[railsquid]

I suppose you could call the green cars on JR East 's outer suburban services non-reserved, at least partially- you get on with a green car ticket w/o a designated seat number.  You find an open seat, and when the conductor/attendant comes around, you show/tell him/her your destination.  Your seat is reserved for the balance of your journey.  I think the process is the same with a suica card, you charge the card beforehand for the route intended (in lieu of a paper ticket) and then tap the receptacle above the seat to change from "open" to "occupied".

 

More specifically with Suica you need to "book" your destination using the platform machine (possibly using the normal ticket machines too, I've never tried it with those), so once you reach the destination station the light will change to red and it will be obvious you haven't paid if you continue. Not sure how that works with paper tickets, the conductor probably sets the light "manually". With Suica you can also change seats, just tap the sensor at each seat.

 

You can also just go ahead and occupy an empty seat and pay "on-the-spot" but as the announcements say, "the fare price will be different to pre-paid fares".

[railsquid]

Perhaps two reasons for the color choice:

1. Change from red to green indicates "in use" or "activated", rather than the sense of passage/blocking "stop or go".

2. Red is more visible at a glance, so open seats are easier to find.

 

See also the humble taxi - 空車

[JR 500系]

Perhaps two reasons for the color choice:

1. Change from red to green indicates "in use" or "activated", rather than the sense of passage/blocking "stop or go".

2. Red is more visible at a glance, so open seats are easier to find.

 

Interesting... Makes sense. Guess i'm too used to looking at Green means go and red means stop...

 

 

More specifically with Suica you need to "book" your destination using the platform machine (possibly using the normal ticket machines too, I've never tried it with those), so once you reach the destination station the light will change to red and it will be obvious you haven't paid if you continue. Not sure how that works with paper tickets, the conductor probably sets the light "manually". With Suica you can also change seats, just tap the sensor at each seat.

 

You can also just go ahead and occupy an empty seat and pay "on-the-spot" but as the announcements say, "the fare price will be different to pre-paid fares".

 

Yap I didn't know about this too until the video I posted above, which the guy showed how to pre-pay his fare using the ticket machine on the Suica Card.

 

I tried riding on the E217 Yokosuka line last year. The conductor came almost immediately when we sat down on the upper deck of the Green Car, probably thinking, 'these foreigners always get the Green car wrong...', but all I had to do was to flash the Green Pass Rail pass and she then asked where I was going, which was Kamakura. She took note of that and scan the Suica reader with her own card, and the light went Green. We didn't see the light go Red after we left the car though...

 

 

See also the humble taxi - 空車

 

I see!

 

[westfalen]

On evening in 2012 my two friends and I boarded a series 231 at Oyama to travel to Ueno, we only had standard class rail passes but after we boarded the train we decided for this one journey we would ride the double deck green car and pay the conductor the extra fare.  When the lady conductor came through she just looked at our passes and kept going.

 

For our trip this September we are going for green car passes, one of the disadvantages that came up during the decision process was that we would have to reserve all our green car seats which is easy enough to do but would take away part of the spontaneity possible with a JR Pass, ie, 'lets catch this train instead of that one' or just walk onto the platform and catch the first train that comes in if your own plans run behind time.

[bikkuri bahn]

I've almost given up on paying extra for green class on shinkansen trains during the holiday period, because the last few instances I've done so, families were traveling with noisy children in the green class car, which totally ruins the ambiance.  In the past, it was an unwritten rule that green class was for adults only, or at least a place where some degree of decorum was expected. 

[railsquid]

For our trip this September we are going for green car passes, one of the disadvantages that came up during the decision process was that we would have to reserve all our green car seats which is easy enough to do but would take away part of the spontaneity possible with a JR Pass, ie, 'lets catch this train instead of that one' or just walk onto the platform and catch the first train that comes in if your own plans run behind time.

 

Does the green car pass prevent you from using normal cars?

[JR 500系]

Does the green car pass prevent you from using normal cars?

 

True. It wont restrict your choice of ad-hoc trains, just use the nun-reserved normal seats instead ~  :)

 

The Green is fun, and please be reminded that there will be 'specials' when using the Green Pass when travelling up north, like refreshments in the Hayabusa, and even better service in Hokkaido ~

[miyakoji]

JR 500, are you saying that it's true you can't get a regular reserved seat if you have the green-car Rail Pass?

[JR 500系]

JR 500, are you saying that it's true you can't get a regular reserved seat if you have the green-car Rail Pass?

 

Haha ~ I actually meant 'True' to adhere with squid's statement that the Green pass will not prevent you from using other cars... Weird the meaning came out otherwise ~  :P

[westfalen]

Yes, and if you don't like the reserved seat you get (it's amazing how often I end up with an aisle seat staring at the end wall of the car) you can still go down to the non-reserved seats and see if there is a better one there.

 

I eventually decided to go green this trip after I worked out the fares on our major long distance trips on Hyperdia and discovered that even if we never used green seats in the two weeks we are in Japan we will still come out on top by a few hundred dollars.  On trains where you have to reserve anyway like the Hayabusa or NEX it's no extra trouble.

[Jensen]

Yes, and if you don't like the reserved seat you get (it's amazing how often I end up with an aisle seat staring at the end wall of the car) you can still go down to the non-reserved seats and see if there is a better one there.

 

I eventually decided to go green this trip after I worked out the fares on our major long distance trips on Hyperdia and discovered that even if we never used green seats in the two weeks we are in Japan we will still come out on top by a few hundred dollars.  On trains where you have to reserve anyway like the Hayabusa or NEX it's no extra trouble.

 

You must be unlucky with aisle seat, every time we were seated together even last minute reservation and definitely window too.

There were only 2 exception in my multiple trips that I didn't get the plan train both of which are next departing train 30th December and 24th November both of which is holiday, however we manage to squeeze in and out the packed train. The most amazing thing is people actually move out the train to let passengers out first unlike most countries I have visited. 

 

By the way Westfalen did you request a window seat? Please report back when you finish your trip with the green pass, cause I'm thinking about it too compare to regular. 

 

Back to topic on non-reserved and reserved seating. I regularly seen people paying on the train when seated in limited express reserved seating, does anyone know what is happening? I think its people paying for the reserved seating (+limited express) fees? Anyone with better understanding with this situation?

[bikkuri bahn]

 I regularly seen people paying on the train when seated in limited express reserved seating, does anyone know what is happening? I think its people paying for the reserved seating (+limited express) fees?

 

Yes, they are paying the reserved seat fees.  If someone comes along with a (pre)reserved seat ticket for that space, however, they have to move to a different unoccupied seat (at least this is what I saw on a JR Hokkaido service).

Edited June 18, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[spacecadet]

Amazing why Green is used as a 'occupied seat' while red is 'empty'...

This is for the conductors. Green means "paid"; red means "this seat needs to pay if it's occupied." The conductor themselves changes red to green if a person is paying on the train. Passengers change it from red to green if they've bought a green car upgrade with a SUICA card on the platform.

 

Why would a passenger even care about green or red? All that matters to a passenger is if there's someone physically in the seat.

Edited June 18, 2016 by spacecadet

[Ochanomizu]

...

 

Why would a passenger even care about green or red? All that matters to a passenger is if there's someone physically in the seat.

 

Hello,

 

It is a little more complicated than that.  For example, if you have a printed reserved seat ticket, the seat will already be green when you board the train.  A vacant seat can also be green if a passenger has reserved that seat, but will board the train at a station further down the line.  However, if you have not prepaid your seat then you must select a red seat.

[Jensen]

This is for the conductors. Green means "paid"; red means "this seat needs to pay if it's occupied." The conductor themselves changes red to green if a person is paying on the train. Passengers change it from red to green if they've bought a green car upgrade with a SUICA card on the platform.

 

Why would a passenger even care about green or red? All that matters to a passenger is if there's someone physically in the seat.

 

I got an example on the E657 Hitachi that I travelled on last year to Katsuta. Its for reserved seat rather then green class.

 

Read somewhere that the next generation of HST for UK that the ECML Azuma will have these traffic light at every seat. I really prefer the system they have on the WCML where it state wherever the seat are reserved and from where, but it really backfire since its often the reserved seats its not taken unless that person is actually catching that train and its full. 

Edited June 20, 2016 by Jensen

[Jensen]

Yes, they are paying the reserved seat fees.  If someone comes along with a (pre)reserved seat ticket for that space, however, they have to move to a different unoccupied seat (at least this is what I saw on a JR Hokkaido service).

 

That's what I observed too. 

 

Can we do similar thing on the Green Class shinkansen or reserved only shinkansen?