JR East has suspended closures of Midori no Madoguchi ticket offices

[mojo]

https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_society/articles/000348555.html

 

The rail operator thought online and ticket machine purchasing would decrease the need for manned offices but congestion at remaining locations suggests otherwise.

 

JR East may even open temporary offices where congestion is a problem. A combination of season ticket renewals, and the growing number of inbound tourists has created unforseen demand, and led to this rethink.

[Tony Galiani]

On my last trip in February - which I would not think is a heavy tourist season, we found long lines at Tokyo Station for both the machines and the manned offices though at Aomori and Hakodate the lines were minimal.  Personally, I like having a manned office as I lack confidence when using the ticket machines.

Tony

[miyakoji]

I agree Tony, when I was buying anything other than a local ticket, my preference was to buy it from a person.  I could show them a highlighted schedule or otherwise communicate so I wasn't putting 15000 yen into the machine only to not get what I wanted.  I wonder if JR East's perception was that there wasn't enough demand (they should have reporting on volume per sales channel), or they were trying to reduce costs, or something else.

[bikkuri bahn]

The whole shutting down the ticket counters originated during the coronavirus period when demand cratered, and dovetailed with the campaign to get more people to make reservations online.  Personally, with simpler itineraries the midori no madoguchi ticket machines are adequate, but the more elaborate convoluted railfan itineraries I sometimes conjure up require human facilitation.  But most importantly, manned counters are required when there are service disruptions, like I experienced when snow shut down the Hakubi Line last December 23, and my planned journey on ltd express Yakumo was nixed- I had to get a refund and book a new return journey on Sanyo/Tokaido Shinkansen.  Okayama Station midori no madoguchi was swamped, tho more with domestic customers rather than inbound (few foreigners know about Sanin, at least for now)- 40 min. wait in line, IIRC.

[mojo]

I'd be okay with the machines if they made them less confusing. I thought I understood the Japanese mindset, but maybe Japanese people find them difficult to use as well.

 

It seems like you just need to know how it works, because it's not written clearly anywhere. Express trains are a good example, where you need a special express ticket in addition to your normal one. Or multiple tickets for the Shinkansen. None of the navigation apps seem to explain it either.

 

Busses can be a pain too. The ones with numbers are easy enough, at least once you figure out how to pay*. But the ones with just the destination on the display... It never seems to match what it says on Google Maps, or on the signage at the stop.

 

* In Nagoya I was on a bus that didn't accept IC cards. I think the system was down or something. Anyway, I didn't have the change but I saw there was a slot for notes and a dispenser for the change, despite the sign that said "no change given" in English. So at the terminal I put 1000 yen in, it spit out some coins that I scooped off, and off I went... "Gaijin-san!" the driver called after me. Turns out it's just a change machine, you then have to put the coins and ticket into the slot yourself. How embarrassing.

[chadbag]

11 hours ago, mojo said:

* In Nagoya I was on a bus that didn't accept IC cards. I think the system was down or something. Anyway, I didn't have the change but I saw there was a slot for notes and a dispenser for the change, despite the sign that said "no change given" in English. So at the terminal I put 1000 yen in, it spit out some coins that I scooped off, and off I went... "Gaijin-san!" the driver called after me. Turns out it's just a change machine, you then have to put the coins and ticket into the slot yourself. How embarrassing.

 

I've seen those change machines on busses before.  You're right, if you didn't know how they worked it could get embarrassing.

 

We used to use the local busses with change in Amagasaki but later we started with the IC cards. I think I'd be in trouble if the IC cards stopped working.

Edited May 13 by chadbag

[katoftw]

Easy to use and most companies have online instructions on how to use them.  First and only time I used them was in 2014.  IC has spread wildly since then.