May 2007, PASMO - The new Tokyo transportation ticket that can do anything

The public transportation in Tokyo has implemented a breakthrough in ticket usability. It is called PASMO, a travel card that can be used on trains as well as on busses all throughout Tokyo and surrounding areas. The PASMO card is valid and accepted by over 100 different public transportation companies.

So what makes the PASMO card different compared to other public transportation travel cards, such as the Oyster card that is used in London? The answer is usability. PASMO is not only a travel card. In addition to paying for public transport the holder of a PASMO card can also use it to pay in stores or vending machines carrying a PASMO logo and it does not stop there. There are plans to increase the acceptance of PASMO to include movie theatres as well as letting worried parents use the PASMO card to keep track of their children. The parents would then get an automatically generated email as soon as their child scans it’s PASMO at the turnstile, the email also includes estimated time of arrival.

To give you a better overview of the new PASMO system we have listed some of the advantages as well as disadvantages below:

Advantages:

• One payment system for the heterogenic public transport landscape
• Environmentally friendly
• Future add-on services

Disadvantages:

• Data security, since people can be tracked every time they use their PASMO
• Fare discounts still relatively low compared to the old discount cards
• The monthly pass is currently limited to include three public transport companies at once
• System is not fully functional yet; there are still three railway companies and 44 bus companies that have not installed the system.
• Japan is a cash society, there is still some scepticism towards card payments

The possibility to increase the usability of this technology seem endless. 

Sources:

Pasmo link

Japan Today link